Wall Street Journal to charge for mobile access from Oct 24
The Wall Street Journal announced on Thursday that it will begin charging for access to the newspaper on mobile devices such as the Blackberry or Apple iPhone from October 24.
The Journal said a mobile-only subscription will cost two dollars a week while a mobile subscription combined with either a print Journal or WSJ.com subscription will be one dollar a week.
Subscribers to both the print and online editions of the Journal will receive free access on the WSJ Mobile Reader application.
The Journal said the WSJ Mobile Reader will remain free to download and contain both free and subscription content like WSJ.com, the newspaper's website.
"Our new mobile subscription model will enable us to continue to invest in the world's most essential news content and deliver it to our subscribers wherever and whenever they want it," said Gordon McLeod, president of The Wall Street Journal Digital Network.
"This transition also reinforces the value of our content on mobile, just as we've done online for more than a decade," he said.
Wall Street Journal owner Rupert Murdoch this week unveiled the plans to begin charging for mobile access to the newspaper.
Murdoch also indicated that News Corp. was looking at ways to begin charging users of popular online video website Hulu.com.
Murdoch's News Corp., The Walt Disney Co. and NBC Universal are partners in Hulu.com, a fast-growing rival to YouTube that offers full-length television shows and movies.
The News Corp. chairman has also announced his intention to begin charging for online access to other newspapers in his media empire.
(c) 2009 AFP
