(10) News Corp offers Times and WSJ digital bundle for corporate users

Link: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/oct/01/news-corp-times-wsj-digital-bundle-corporate-users

Summary:

News Corp is bundling together digital access to the Times and Wall Street Journal for corporate customers, allowing existing subscribers to either title to read the other for free and offering a dual option for new companies who sign up.The deal will increase the Wall Street Journal’s appeal for corporate customers in London, where its main business news rival the Financial Times is based. The tie-up also has the potential to increase the reach of the Times’s online advertising, which has been restricted since the introduction of charges for online access in 2010.

Key data/statistical information:

• The FT has benefited in recent years from a drive to recruit corporate customers, helping take its digital subscriber base to more than 500,000.

• There has been speculation the Times could be offered as part of a bundle with Sky TV, in which News Corp’s sister company 21st Century Fox holds a 39% stake, no deal has materialised.

• Next week the paper is planning to offer 1m sample copies across London’s transport network at stations such as Bank and Canary Wharf and at London City Airport.

What's my view?

I think that this raise competition between newspapers that focus on finance like the Financial Times. The tie-up could potentially work but due to the decrease on print newspaper, i'm not too sure if the Wall Street Journal could gain as much popularity as other print newspapers.