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Time Warner CEO Hints at Charging for Content

Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes hinted the company may be planning to sell online content that it currently offers for free.

Bewkes told an investor conference that it doesn’t make much sense for publishers to provide content without a way to recover at least the production costs, writes Yahoo Tech.

Bewkes did not specifically say that the company would begin charging for access to its websites or for articles on those sites. But his words are yet another indication that the current model of giving consumers free access to most content online is headed for a shakeup.

Earlier this month, Media News Group, publisher of 54 daily newspapers including The Denver Post and the Detroit News, revealed that it is making a major change to its business model and will begin charging for its newspaper content online.

The company has not yet said exactly what its strategy will be for charging for newspaper content, but a memo to MediaNews staff said that the group will begin to move away from making all newspaper content free online and will instead “explore a variety of premium offerings that apply real value to our print content.”

The news followed a similar announcement by News Corp. that it will begin charging for individual articles and premium subscriptions to its newspapers within the next year. News Corp. head Rupert Murdoch calls the current question over how to better monetize online content an “epochal debate,” and says the “current days of the internet will soon be over.”

Yesterday, executives from several newspaper groups including The New York Times Co., Gannett, the Associated Press, McClatchy and Hearst met to discuss various models for charging for online content. The meeting was organized by the Newspaper Association of America, according to The Atlantic.

Time Warner posted a $16 billion loss in Q4 2008.