Hmm.. the Internet, or News Corp.. who will I bet on? ;-p - Anthony Citrano

There's a reason the WSJ can charge a subscription. It's readers financially survive off of the information it supplies. ...DumbDick Murdoch. - Brad Williamson

Yeah right, and there will be world peace - Paul Roberts

I'll take the internet for a win unless civilization fails. - Dan owns Comicsforge.com

What he says is " the current days", and this is referring to the free for everyone model. He is correct in that the free part is shutting down. Funding is running out for all the servers and people who run them at companies that don't have revenue. End of this year, early next. Soon, you won't be able to read those AP or NYT reprints without paying for it in one way or another. They are already in talks to add charges onto your ISP monthly rates. Like cable. :) So, somewhat accurate. - Cole Jolley

Cole, I don't know you, so my apologies if you're in a position to know, but it seems to me that if you're going to make a bold statement like that, you should probably support it somehow. - Mr. Gunn

sorry, I'll just go back to the life scientists room. Pretend I never said anything. ;-) - Mr. Gunn

I've never been known to shy away from a chance to speculate, so here's another: either Cole's speculation will turn out wrong, or AP and NYT will go completely out of business. You decide. - Anthony Citrano from BuddyFeed

The internet is ad supported. - Ryan Dadey

Anthony, the two main unknowns in how that will turn out are to what degree ad spending on the internet rises when paper diminishes, and to what degree publishers can realize savings in distribution by going all-digital. A bigger piece of a smaller pie is certainly better than going hungry, and some may disagree, also better than acquiring your pastry by force/lawsuit/goverment fiat. - Mr. Gunn

Yeah... he's the guy that bought Myspace, right?... - Johnny

There is a typo in the title. The article says "The free internet will soon be over" - Mel Buckpitt

If they're going to make it possible for site to charge people via their cable bill, hopefully antitrust legislation will make that a level playing field open to all websites otherwise the internet will indeed have been taken over by a cartel. That said, it's obvious that people are willing to pay for content - even news as long as the quality is high enough. The question to me is does News corp really produce that quality, or does it just control distribution channels to reduce competition? - Robin Barooah

Murdoch himself will be over long before the Internet as we know it is over. I agree, he's a real life Montgomery Burns. - Rob McNair-Huff

Less speculation than informed opinion :) Examples: Time experiments with charging for online properties: http://bit.ly/vvJJn, Networks in talks to charge cable operators for online access per subscriber: http://bit.ly/oHN6y Time Warner adds tier pricing for usage: http://bit.ly/16oGd4, Businessweek model must change: http://bit.ly/3w4vrk Mark Cuban discussing NYT charging cable subscribers for access: http://bit.ly/azYTk There's lots of examples if you look for them. Refer back to the Guardian article. Murdoch is telling you they are in negotiations to bring fees in. - Cole Jolley

Let him put up paywalls. The more the traditional media companies try to save their obsolete model, the more people will choose the free, open, and transparent new media models. This means every bleat like this from people like Murdock is crowing over the very ideas that hasten their demise. - Neal "thePuck" Jansons

Absolutely, Neal. I am reminded of the record company approach to online music. - Anthony Citrano

I'm with Cole on this one. Someone has to pay for journalism and the ad-supported model doesn't work now the bottom's fallen out of the ad market. Freemium (like Flickr) and subscription packages are the way the wind is blowing. If you don't like it there's always Ariana Huffington's fund to support investigative journalism but that's probably a bit ahead of its time for the whole market and isn't really suitable for profit-led companies like News Corp. - Martin Bryant

I know what Cuban and the media moguls want, but I don't think they're necessarily going to get their way, because they don't really hold the reins anymore. I can't believe they actually think price-fixing industry-wide is the solution to their woes. At any rate, NPR is still doing a fine job. - Mr. Gunn

Isn't a major problem with the newspapers the very fact that they were ad-supported? Paying directly for journalism seems like a great way to get quality journalism. - Robin Barooah

To expand on what I said above, I reckon Murdoch will go down a route of: 'read the article and see the 3 minute video for free, watch the full 30 minute interview if you pay a dollar'. Make the micropayments easy and the content good enough and people will pay. - Martin Bryant

"Rupert ­Murdoch expects to start charging for access to News Corporation's newspaper websites within a year as he strives to fix a ­"malfunctioning" business model." I may watch too much Democracy Now, but it seems to me that the only thing malfunctioning right now is capitalism. Color me hippie, but might it be that our current capitalist system simply isn't perfect? Perhaps we should come up with some new ideas to help fill in it's gaps rather than assuming EVERY person should put profit motives in front of an interest in knowledge? - thepete

I gotta agree with thepete here - while I don't think capitalism is broken I think a lot of capitalists are, and the system is malfunctioning. The idea that businesspeople can force outdated business models on the market - and ignore fundamental realities - is absurd. Simply put, people are (for the most part) not going to pay for most of this content. A few will. Most won't. It's just not going to work. Sorry, Rupert, but "News Corp will soon be over" unless you change your attitude. It's the height of arrogance to think you can force the market to adapt to your business model rather than the reverse... - Anthony Citrano

This seems like an obviously convenient belief to hold if you are Murdoch. I hope the US becomes the ultimate example of capitalism, and that 'real' democratic communist states are also allowed to thrive. The idea of perfection is a human conceived notion; there is no such thing as perfect, so nothing ever will be perfect. - coldbrew

@Chris: I know I already said this, but yeah, it's like watching the record labels deal with the online music scene.. it's just so self-destructive that it's stunning. - Anthony Citrano

He tends to change his mind on this every few years. Doesn't really matter though. While some will pay, this will just open up opportunities for the others who skip Murdoch sites. - Mike Reynolds

apropos: http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/haque... - Robin Barooah from IM

Yes, we all expect to pay for online, as soon as the hard copies no longer sell. But not while we put up with popover and stayover ads. - pazzer1

And another link: Ireland about to extend TV license fee payments to cover internet devices: http://www.samknows.com/broadba... - Cole Jolley

I swear, it's like they have a moral imperative to find a way to screw people. These are the types who see a public park full of playing children and start scheming about building an arcade and fast food place across the street. Sickening. - Neal "thePuck" Jansons from IM