Murdoch's News Sites Eye Fees

Nothing spurs a dramatic change like economic collapse. Saying that the current business model is "malfunctioning," News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch told reporters Wednesday that his news Web sites would start charging for content. Murdoch cited the Wall Street Journal's success with its subscription program as proof that users would pay for news online. "The current days of the Internet will soon be over," Murdoch told reporters. News Corp., like everybody, has not fared well recently. Its newspaper division "barely broke even" and its profits from television also shrunk drastically. The two divisions that did fare well? 20th Century Fox, the film studio, and—you guessed it—Fox News, which helped push a 30 percent increase in profits from last year in the cable TV division.