Should TonbridgBlog go pay per view?...

So that's it then the beginning of the end of free news on the internet. According to a report in the Daily Torygraph today From June the Times Online have decided to create a firewall on their content in another potentially groundbreaking move for one Mr. Rupert Murdoch. That's not to say that the Aussie tycoon has gone mad and is expecting bush fires on the internet no it's a teccie, computer geeks, term for being able to get to a taste of the content for free and then having to pay a fee to get the full version. A sort of coin meter for web content. Many are predicting that their audience will plummet but TonbridgeBlog is not so sure; Murdoch has an uncanny knack of getting the timing just right (think independent news channels, Sky TV, The Sun popular content.) Everyone thought he was just a meglamaniac nutter in all those cases and look at him now. If you start to think about it why should it be free other than the fact that everyone has got used to it being so. The journalists still want paying, as do the advertising staff, admin staff and production experts so where's the money going to come from in the long term? Only one place and that's the advertisers; but newspapers have traditionally always had that revenue stream and also the circulation sales revenue. TonbridgeBlog would like to propose a £2.50 a day fee from now if you want to get behind my firewall you better get saving up your pennies!...