Most online news services give their readers access to their daily news stories for free, the main exception to that rule being Wall Street Journal Online, which charges users a annual fee to access all its content. This, however, may change shortly as the soon to be owner, Rupert Murdoch, appears to be toying with the idea of opening up the site's content to anyone wishing to see it.This brings up an interesting discussion, and one that could have major consequences. Unlike most sites that have tried (and failed) to charge annual subscription fees, Dow Jones & Co. (NYSE: DJ)'s Wall Street Journal Online has proved able to successfully do just that. The site pulls in $79 for an annual subscription from its estimated 1 million users. That's a nice little chunk of change that Mr. Murdoch is considering throwing away.
But would he really be throwing away anything? That is where the debate comes into play. How many internet users would start to use Wall Street Journal Online for their primary news service if they were allowed unlimited free access? My opinion is that the number would be large, much larger than its current numbers, and as we all know... visitors equal revenues. In this case, visitors would equal huge advertising revenues.
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