Murdoch: News Corp second quarter starts strong

By Michael Smith

ADELAIDE, Australia (Reuters) - News Corp (NWSa.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chairman Rupert Murdoch said on Tuesday the company had made a strong start to the second quarter with the global credit market squeeze so far not having much affect on forward advertising.

The media mogul also said he was also planning to boost the numbers of subscribers to the Wall Street Journal's Web site more than tenfold by making access free.

"We are studying it and we expect to make that free, and instead of having 1 million (subscribers) having at least 10-15 million in every corner of the earth," the 76-year-old told a shareholder meeting in the Australian city where the global media group was founded.

Murdoch said News Corp's film division, its expanding online businesses and its acquisition of the Wall Street Journal would drive future growth.

"So far this quarter, and we are only halfway through, we are going very well and very strongly," he said.

News Corp, which owns the 20th Century Fox movie studio and MySpace Internet social network, expects to close a deal to buy Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co Inc DJ.N for $5.6 billion next month.

"Digital is the great revolution we are facing," Murdoch declared in announcing he expected to make subscriber-based Web site free.

Murdoch, who said in September he would like to end the WSJ.com subscription fee, has rejected criticism from analysts who have said a free site could be risky because WSJ.com is one of the few news Web sites that attracts paying customers.