Free access to WSJ website?

November 14, 2007

Murdoch Said to Stress Free Access to Wall St. Journal’s Web Site

By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA

Rupert Murdoch says he plans to abolish subscription fees at The Wall Street Journal’s Web site, according to news accounts from Australia. This apparently was news to executives at his company and The Journal, who cautioned that the decision might not be final.
Mr. Murdoch made his statements in an address to shareholders in the South Australian center of Adelaide on Tuesday — late Monday night in New York — and in an interview carried in the Tuesday issue of his national newspaper, The Australian. News agencies reported that he said of The Journal’s Web site, “We are studying it and we expect to make that free.”
The Journal, one of very few large newspapers to charge for access to most of its Web site, has one million paying online subscribers. The fees they pay have been widely reported at $50 million a year, but a Dow Jones executive has said the figure is closer to $70 million. More