Wall Street Journal to Stick with Subs for "Really Special" Content

In the months since News Corp. agreed to acquire Dow Jones, media punditry has tended to assume the Wall Street Journal’s Web site will eventually go free and ad-supported. Not so.

Covering remarks Rupert Murdoch made in Davos today, WSJ brings us news that its pay wall won’t crumble… yet. Rather, Murdoch said the site’s free content will be greatly beefed up while a “significant portion” of its “really special” content will be preserved for subscribers’ eyes only.

Here are his exact remarks, made in response to a question posed at the World Economic Forum, according to the Journal:

“We are going to greatly expand and improve the free part of the Wall Street Journal online, but there will still be a strong offering” for subscribers, Mr. Murdoch said. “The really special things will still be a subscription service, and, sorry to tell you, probably more expensive.”