Of all the reasons given why Rupert Murdoch decided to keep the WSJ.com paid subscriber wall in place, the one that I find most interesting is that advertisers are willing to pay a premium for WSJ.com’s audience. If the WSJ went free, it would undoubtedly increase its audience substantially, but how valuable would those new visitors be to advertisers compared to the WSJ current niche audience?

Davos, Switzerland - News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) chairman Rupert Murdoch said on Friday that he plans to keep a large portion of the content on the website of his newly acquired Wall Street Journal behind a subscription firewall, and indicated that subscription prices are likely to rise, The Journal reported. The remarks, made at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, countered earlier hints that Murdoch was contemplating making the entire site free to access.

New York - Dow Jones & Company (NYSE: DJ), publisher of The Wall Street Journal, announced on Thursday that its shareholders have approved a $5.6 billion sale of the company to News Corporation (NYSE: NWS), with 60.27% of shares voting in favor of the deal. The Journal reported that about 78% of outstanding common shares voted in favor of the deal, compared with 54% of supervoting shares -- most of which is held by the Bancroft family, which has long controlled Dow Jones.

Adelaide, Australia - News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) chairman Rupert Murdoch, whose company is acquiring Dow Jones & Co. (NYSE: DJ), publisher of The Wall Street Journal, said on Tuesday that he intends to abandon the subscription model on the paper's website -- which recently hit a million subscribers -- in favor of a free, advertising-supported model, the Associated Press reported.

After a tight first round last week in which Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs, Satoru Iwata, Rupert Murdoch, and Google’s Sergey Brin & Larry Page went head to head for the title of “The Most Powerful Player Today in Media, Entertainment, & Technology,” the readers responded with resounding support for Murdoch and Jobs.  Advancing them to the final round, take our new poll and tell us what you think.  And if you think neither is worthy of the title, or if you have a strong opinion why you chose one over the other, leave a comment and let us know.  Steve Hawley had the comment of the week last week when he wrote:

New York - Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation looks to have overcome dissent within the Bancroft family, which controls voting interest in Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co., and will be successful in its $5 billion bid for the company, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and elsewhere.

New York - News Corp.'s $5 billion takeover of Dow Jones & Co. is one step closer to fruition after Dow Jones' 16-member board voted in favor of the deal Tuesday night, The Wall Street Journal reported.

New York - Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has reached a tentative deal to acquired Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones for $5 billion, but must still gain approval from the Bancroft family, which owns 64% of Dow Jones voting power and has expressed reservations about the deal, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

New York - Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. edged closer to its goal of acquiring Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones yesterday, when the Bancroft family, which controls 64% of Dow Jones, said that it was willing to meet with Murdoch and consider his bid, as well as competing bids and other options, The Wall Street Journal reported.

In a dramatic turnabout, the Bancroft family, which controls Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal, agreed to discuss a sale of the company to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp after initially refusing to do so. There are a number of hints that the turnabout was driven by concern over the future of Dow Jones in a digital media world:

New York - News Corp., the media conglomerate controlled by Rupert Murdoch, has made a $5 billion -- or $60 per share -- unsolicited buyout offer for Dow Jones & Co., the New York-based provider of business news and information services and publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

It is no surprise that News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch is hunting for the next great Internet company to buy after striking gold when acquiring MySpace.com last year.  According to an LA Times source, Murdoch has already made an offer to buy Internet video sensation YouTube.com. If successful, he would own two of the hottest Internet properties out there, slowly transforming his media empire from old media to new media.