Murdoch's News Ltd set for Aussie paywall

Richard Freudenstein, chief executive of News Limited's digital business and The Australian, is due to outline in a speech in Sydney on Tuesday how the paper will begin charging for some material from later this year.

He is expected to announce a bundled strategy, under which subscribers to the print version of the paper will not have to pay as high a price as other readers for web or app usage, The Australian said.

"Similarly, The Australian will not charge for all content in the same way The Times of London has done but will adopt a model closer to The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal where some content remains free," it said.

News Ltd would not comment further ahead of Tuesday's announcement, which is not expected to cover The Australian's tabloid cousins such as Sydney's Daily Telegraph or Melbourne's Herald-Sun.

The move towards paywalls comes as newspapers grapple with the task of maintaining revenues as their product increasingly migrates towards digital platforms such as mobile phones and tablets.

Source: AFP