Wall Street Journal to charge for mobile access: Murdoch

Murdoch, speaking to financial analysts at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia XVIII Conference in New York today, also predicted that print newspapers would be extinct within 20 to 30 years, replaced by portable electronic readers.

"Starting in a month or two, people who are getting The Wall Street Journal on their Blackberry are going to be paying two dollars a week," Murdoch said. "Same with the iPhone."

Mobile access to the Journal would cost a dollar a week for subscribers to the newspaper, the News Corp chairman and chief executive said.

News Corp, he added, was looking at ways to begin charging users of popular online video website Hulu.com.

News Corp. is a partner in Hulu.com, a fast-growing rival to YouTube that offers full-length television shows and movies, along with The Walt Disney Co and NBC Universal.

"Are we looking at (Hulu) with a view to adding subscription services there and pay per view? Yes, we are looking at that," Murdoch said, though cautioning that "no decision has been made yet."