News Corp may delay charging for newspaper websites, says CEO Rupert Murdoch
NEWS Corporation chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch says the media group might not start charging readers this financial year to access content on the company's newspaper websites.
Mr Murdoch said the goal of having users pay for content on the media company's newspaper websites by the end of this financial year may not be met.
"We are working all very, very hard at it but I wouldn't promise that we are going to meet that date," Mr Murdoch said during a conference call with journalists today.
"It's a work in progress and there is a huge amount of work going on, not just with our sites but with other people."
Asked about the delay, Mr Murdoch said he was "not prepared to comment on that at all".
News Corp, which owns local newspapers such as The Australian, The Herald Sun and The Daily Telegraph, had flagged in August plans to charge users of the group's newspaper websites.
Other newspapers in News Corp's global stable include the New York Post, the UK's The Sun and The Times. News Corp also owns The Wall Street Journal, which charges users for some online content.
The Wall Street Journal, bought by News Corp in 2007, has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the US and WSJ.com has more than one million paid subscribers.
News Corp reported an 11 per cent rise in first quarter net income earlier today.