Murdoch set to charge for online content

Rupert Murdoch said he plans to charge users to read The Times‘ and The Sun‘s online content following the success of the Wall Street Journal‘s pay model.

Murdoch said he would test the pay model on his stronger titles, in a similar way he charges people for the WSJ’s online business news, and if it proves successful, changes could be implemented by the end of the year.

He added that the online pay model could offset the fall in print revenues within two years.

If Murdoch goes ahead with the plans, he will be the first head of a non-financial newspaper group to charge consumers for online content.

His media empire, News Corp, reported a 47% decline in operating profits to $755 million (£498 million) for Q1 2009.

Ad revenues for the newspaper group suffered a substantial fall, down 21% in the UK, 33% at the WSJ and 16% in Australia.