Murdoch announces intention to charge for content

Jake Widman
Friday, 07 August 2009 02:39

Business IT - Technology

Combined with a US$452 million write-down on the Fox Interactive Media Unit, of which the social network MySpace is a part, the drop in revenue led the company to a $203 million loss in the quarter.

Nevertheless, Murdoch was optimistic about the future.

He told the newspaper that the media sector slump might be ending and that he saw signs of life in advertising sales.

While he expects that newspaper and broadcast television revenues will be down next years, improvement on the cable TV side should bring revenue up.

The recovery in advertising plus the plan to charge for content should turn things around for News Corp.

Murdoch predicted a "high single digit" recovery in corporate profits next year.