Media entrepreneurs seem to agree that content can no longer be offered free of charge on the Internet, and even Google has implemented a system of micropayments for articles.
Free internet, which grew as a model where companies believed they could make money from content through advertising, seems to have its days numbered and 2010 will surely be the date of a change advertising data that will mark the next decade.
"The digital revolution has opened up many new and cheaper distribution channels, but that doesn't make the content they carry free," said media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who decided to close access to his company's portals from next year.
"An industry that gives away a product is cannibalizing its ability to do good journalism," said the owner of News Corporation, who insists that quality does not come cheap.
Initiatives such as Journalism Online, which brings together different media to offer a single subscription for special content, defend the idea that the dominant model is outdated and will lead companies to seek new ways to self-finance.
"The future will be a combination of paid and free models. Consumers will pay directly and there will also be models where distributors of different kinds, such as digital books, will pay royalties," said the founder of this online platform, Gordon Crovitz.
Last week, leading publications such as Libération announced that they would switch to a paid system, while in the French market, leading newspapers such as Le Monde had already entered the system.