Murdoch: The paid-model is the “economic template for the future”

Rupert Murdoch claims News Corp’s incoming paid-for model will reduce its dependence on advertising revenue.

Speaking at a recent shareholder meeting in New York, Murdoch said News Corp will increase revenue from charging content aggregators and users.

“We’re determined to take a leadership position in creating an economic template for the future,” he said.  However, Murdoch also admitted that getting users to pay for online content will be “a tough challenge”.

He confirmed plans to charge for access to News Corp-owned newspaper and entertainment websites and also said cable and satellite providers will be charged to carry television stations such as Fox, according to reports.

Murdoch also plans to implement a paid-for system for access to News International’s UK newspaper websites such as The Times and The Sun.  However, it is understood that the UK titles will continue to provide online news for free but will charge for in-depth content, analysis and mobile services.

Murdoch first unveiled plans to starting charging users to access his UK newspaper sites in June. At the time, he said: “Quality journalism is not cheap. The digital revolution has opened many new and inexpensive distribution channels but it has not made content free. We intend to charge for all our news websites.”

Since then, other publishers have followed Murdoch’s lead and have also announced plans to charge for online news.  However, last week a new survey revealed that 89% of people don’t pay for online media currently and don’t expect to start within in the next year.

The first KPMG Media and Entertainment Barometer report also found that consumers are buying less newspapers and magazines in favour of viewing free online content during the recession.