Mr. Murdoch, Tear Down This (Pay)Wall!

Alright. The latest smoke signals out of Dow Jones indicate that Rupert Murdoch wants to make the online Wall Street Journal free. No more paywall? Reuters (who had their own Rupe run-in recently) reports from the Communicopia Conference:

He reiterated his proposal to make the Wall Street Journal‘s Web site free, rejecting criticism that it would hurt the newspaper. Analysts have said a free wsj.com could be a risky move as the site is a rare Internet property that has managed to attract paying customers. Murdoch said making the site, which currently charges a annual subscription fee of $99, freely available online would help boost viewership and revenue globally. “Will you lose $50 million to $100 million in revenue? I don’t think so,” Murdoch said. “If the site is good, you’ll get much more.”

Some television-related news was laid out at Communicopia as well. To noone’s surprise, Dow Jones will be contributing resources to the new Fox Business Network.

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