Murdoch U-turns as WSJ.com stays subscription

by Jacquie Bowser, Brand Republic 25-Jan-08, 11:10

LONDON - Rupert Murdoch has said that the Wall Street Journal's website will not go entirely free and will instead retain an element of subscription.

Murdoch, chairman of News Corporation, told those attending the World Economic Forum in Davos that he would free up the WSJ.com's "commodity information" that is available on other sites, but would keep access to original, proprietary stories and "specialised material" subscription based.

Murdoch said: "We are going to greatly expand and improve the free part of The Wall Street Journal online, but there will still be a strong offering for subscribers. The really special things will still be a subscription service, and, sorry to tell you, probably more expensive."

WSJ.com reported that online subscription prices are expected to rise from $20 a year to $119 as early as March. However, the site is currently offering lapsed subscribers renewals deals for as little as $79 with Amazon vouchers thrown in to tempt people back.

Following News Corp's $5.6bn (£2.7bn) acquisition of Dow Jones, owner of the Journal, in August last year, Murdoch had discussed plans to fully lift the pay wall on the WSJ website.

Murdoch signalled he would drop the paid-for model to broaden the WSJ.com's audience and boost its advertising revenue to offset any loss in subscription revenue.

He said at the time: "We are studying it and we expect to make it free, and instead of having 1m [subscribers], having at least 10-15m in every corner of the earth."

His plans prompted rival, the website of the Financial Times, FT.com, to offer limited free access to its own site in response.

The WSJ.com already has a sizeable portion of free content that has increased since the Dow Jones takeover, including the breaking-news alerts, personal finance and lifestyle content, videos, blogs, podcasts, and since this month, its opinion section.