From the story:
Mr. Murdoch has been dropping hints that he is contemplating doing just that when he takes over, raising the idea in interviews before he clinched the deal and more openly in recent meetings with top Journal editors and Dow Jones Chief Executive Richard F. Zannino.
Yesterday, the News Corp. chairman went even further, telling an investment conference that the issue was "right on the front burner" and, although no decision has been made, a free site "looks like the way we are going."
This of course coincides with the New York Times throwing in the towel and getting rid of TimesSelect, which required either an online subscription or a print subscription to access the op-ed columnists and the archive. I liked TimesSelect, but of course, I didn't have to pay extra for it. I just liked the VIP status. ;)
FWIW, some of the content on WSJ.com is already free, such as Walt Mossberg's columns, career information and small business news. There's a complete list here.
Perhaps they don't need to go free. The current management team is doing something different that might work. The online subscription used to be $99/1 year. Now they're selling it for $125 for BOTH the online + print versions combined for 1 year. PLUS they're throwing in 2 more months (e.g. http://1.wallstreetjournaI.googlepages.com).
ReplyDeleteThey'll take a hit in $$ now, but increase their subscriber numbers by a huge rate and of course in the long run, they'll see a sky-high renewal rate for the product. Nice job WSJ.