• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, November 13, 2007

News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch today told shareholders in Australia that he plans to end subscription fees for The Wall Street Journal online.

"We are studying it and we expect to make that free, and instead of having one million (subscribers), having at least 10 million-15 million in every corner of the earth," he said, according to the Associated Press. News Corp. this summer agreed to purchase Journal parent Dow Jones for $5.6 billion. The deal is expected to close before the end of the year.

News that the site will likely become free isn't entirely unexpected, as Murdoch has previously touted the potential ad revenue to be gained by making WSJ.com free. Currently, the site draws about 1 million subscribers who pay a total of around $50 million a year for access.

Murdoch's comments in Australia come as the continued growth of online advertising is spurring companies from Facebook to The New York Times to figure out how to better monetize their Web sites. Facebook just last week unveiled a sweeping new plan that relies on increased personalization of ads, while the Times in September did away with Times Select and made all columnists, as well as a trove of archived articles, available for free.

The Times move wasn't surprising, given that most newspapers and magazines haven't been able to gain traction with paying online subscribers. But the online Journal was always touted as the exception, the poster child for the argument that consumers will pay for the right kind of "premium" content.

Now, however, it's looking more and more like whatever people are willing to pay for premium editorial material doesn't compare to potential ad revenue.