The Times and Sunday Times to charge for online content

So it begins, and the headline says it all. The burning question is whether or not Rupert Murdoch's solitary stance and daring move will pay off.

The Times website reported today that from June, the media mogul's News International will start charging £1 a day or £2 a week for access to the papers' online versions. For now at least that won't be extended to what was, until last month, the most popular English language newspaper in the UK; The Sun, nor the new leader; The News of The World. Both titles sell around three million copies a day;  a breakdown of the latest figures here from MediaWeek if anyone's interested.

In a video from the paper's editor, James Harding, he says that the journalistic practice of valuing online content as "worthless" is "extraordinary". He goes on to say that the two million people who buy The Times and Sunday Times every week (although I believe he meant to refer to total sales), value the paper's content. The new site to launch in June can be viewed here.

The business model is broadly based on what many business publications such as The Wall Street Journal, or the UK's Financial Times or Financial News practice currently. 

By providing unique, valuable content to avid readers or researchers in some cases - but for the most part businesses for the gathering of market information - they have been able to charge for access. The WSJ, another title owned News International, has been charging readers for some time, but again caters for the financial market. Murdoch may have been motivated and inspired from this business model.

Harding boldly suggests that The Times provides exactly that: "The best possible information" that isn't available for free; a policy not extended to Murdoch's other publications, for now at least, although the paper says there are plans on the way for the two aforementioned titles.
The question is, will the readers pay for it?  A recent (ish) poll by Forrester Research suggests that most people won't, so Murdoch will be banking on the rest to read his titles.