There has been a lot of chatter recently about the issue of newspapers charging for their on-line content – driven by Rupert Murdoch’s speculation that this is what he, and the industry is going to have to do very shortly.
However, the issue is not free content. What is killing traditional news providers is free distribution.
The price that Murdoch et al have to charge for their content is driven by the fact that their organisations are chained to expensive distribution models. Organisations that don’t have that ball and chain can afford to give their content away because their costs are so much lower they can cover these via advertising alone. Continue reading ‘Free content is not the issue – its free distribution’
