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BARCELONA, Nov 19 (Reuters) – Newspapers will play a smaller
role in News Corp’s (NWSA.O) operations in future as the group
focuses on more profitable pay-TV operations in western Europe
and India, the group’s head of Europe and Asia said.

James Murdoch, son of News Corp chief executive Rupert
Murdoch, also said the company would remain conservative in its
use of capital.

“We do not feel, looking at the overall environment, that we
are out of the woods yet,” he said. “We have got to continue to
be pretty cautious.”

James Murdoch, told an investor conference that News Corp,
the world’s biggest news company, expected to have smaller
audiences for online news when it starts charging readers next
spring, but journalism would still play a part in the group.

“In the business of ideas, which is the business that we are
in, we do think journalism plays a role, and we do think there
are business models there that will make a lot of sense, albeit
perhaps not at the scale of some of our broadcasting businesses
and other entertainment businesses,” he said.

“Is it going to be as big a role? No,” he said.

“Structurally, television is vastly more profitable and a
big opportunity,” he told a conference in Barcelona.

News Corp plans to sell subscriptions from early next year
to the digital version of its Times newspaper, following fellow
News Corp title the Wall Street Journal and Pearson’s POSN.L
Financial Times who charge for access to online content.

As advertising revenues slump and circulations of printed
newspapers continue a long decline, the newspaper industry is
being forced to consider new business models.

Murdoch said News Corp aimed eventually to develop a
wholesale market for its digital news. “Our digital activities
– we are going to push them harder but we are actually going to
be charging a premium price for them.

“We will have a smaller audience than giving it away for
free, but I think it is the crucial step in starting to develop
a wholesale market for digital journalism.”

COMFORTABLE IN EUROPE

Murdoch said his two top priorities were cementing News
Corp’s positions in pay TV in Western Europe and in India –
along with rebuilding the profitability of newspapers.

News Corp owns top Indian satellite broadcaster Star TV and
has stakes in two cable operators.

“It is not all consolidated, there are some regulatory
challenges over platform ownership and things like that, but it
is a very exciting business. It can be and will be soon a very
profitable business,” Murdoch said.  Continued…