If you just read the headline in Wednesday’s Guardian, you might not fully grasp why this story is such a big deal.  “Sunday Times plans standalone website” is the headline and the subhead reads “Sunday Times executives consider charging readers on new site.”  Yes, that development represents another example of the newly emerging experimentation with paid content by newspapers.  But put in the context of the bigger plans of the Sunday Times’ owner, Rupert Murdoch, it’s even more significant.   In the middle of the Guardian piece, Murdoch is quoted from a conference call last month:

“… We are planning to introduce a pay model across all our properties but we will test it first on some of our stronger properties,” he added.

The Sunday Times editor, John Witherow, is understood to be a keen proponent of the site. “John thinks he is rewriting the business model of the web,” one source said.

Those who believe that it’s too late for newspapers to charge for online content given the wide availability of free content rationally argue that individual newspapers won’t be successful charging for some content unless many of them start doing it at the same time.  And if newspapers join forces to move in that direction, it could raise antitrust issues.  That little problem was noted in a Nieman Journalism Lab post about a recent NAA-organized meeting of top execs.

But what if the biggest, most aggressive player in the news business decided to move aggressively toward paid content?  If that’s what Murdoch is doing, it could obviate the antitrust problem - the rest of the industry might just follow along without any need for consultation.