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After saying publicly that he planned to make The Wall Street Journal's website free and rely on advertising revenue to make up for lost subscriptions, Rupert Murdoch has changed his mind.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Murdoch said that the articles and sections "giving the greatest insights, that will still be a subscription service."

I guess we can assume that the paper's editorial page will be free now. Perhaps we will even be paid to read it.

News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) appears to have gone back and forth on this matter, and I doubt we've heard the last of it. Long-term, I still think that the WSJ website will end up being free. The increasing quality of online business coverage will make a WSJ subscription less of a necessity for many readers. But a free WSJ-website would instantly become the top business news site in America.

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Believe it or not, News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch does sometimes deliver for shareholders.

Shares of the parent company of 20th Century Fox are down about 2% this year, which while lousy, actually is significantly better than other media conglomerates including Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS), Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX), and Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA), which each are down much more. The attraction here isn't shareholder value. It's Murdoch.

Quite simply, the Australian media tycoon is the most dynamic CEO in the industry. He's one of the few who does stuff stuff just because he feels like doing it. Just because the market really doesn't need another cable news business channel, that doesn't mean that Murdoch won't start one. Fox Business Network isn't going to make a nickel for years and won't do much for shareholders. The same goes for Dow Jones & Co. (NYSE: DJ). Spending $5 billion for the publisher of the Wall Street Journal may be a slight help to the bottom line, though its potential may not be realized for years either.

What makes Murdoch tick is lust for power and influence. He started Fox Business Network because he thought that CNBC wasn't pro business enough, a sentiment that probably shocked the likes of Larry Kudlow and Jim Cramer. Advertisers are no doubt getting commercial time on Fox Business for a fraction of what they would pay on CNBC or Bloomberg TV. The question is whether they'll be interested in the network once its novelty begins to wear off.

As for the Journal, worries about Murdoch interfering with the newspaper are overblown. He doesn't have to ring up an editor to tell him about a story he hates. A high-level Murdoch employee knows very well what the mogul likes and doesn't like and will comport himself accordingly.

Be sure to check out more Money Winners of 2007.

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MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal's "Deal Journal" reported that Sam Zell's planned buyout of Tribune Company (NYSE: TRB) is contingent on the receipt of a solvency opinion, and that this is the first time they have ever seen a deal dependant on this.
• The WSJ's "Heard on the Street" reported that Countrywide Financial Corporation (NYSE: CFC) may not be out of the woods yet. Despite executives promising a return to profitability, there is still a risk the company may eventually seek bankruptcy protection or "resort to huge sales" of new stock.
• U.S. private equity group JC Flowers "is understood" to have walked away from the auction for troubled bank Northern Rock, the Financial Times reported.
• Rupert Murdoch is shaking up the management of News Corp (NYSE: NWS.A), the Financial Times reported, giving his son, James Murdoch, control over the company's European and Asian operations, and appointing two trusted executives to lead Dow Jones & Company Inc (NYSE: DJ) and the Wall Street Journal.

• Barron's Online's "Weekly Trader" said AutoNation Inc (NYSE: AN) looks attractive now, despite hovering near a multi-year low. The company has also been on a slow but steady quest to diversify away from unpopular domestic brands by snapping up luxury and import dealerships.

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Natalie Bancroft, a 27-year-old opera singer who lives in Europe and has little exposure to the worlds of journalism and commerce, is the hand-picked family representative for the Bancrofts on the board of News Corp (NYSE: NWS), according to the Wall Street Journal.

How did this happen? The family couldn't agree on someone who would take it and be acceptable to Rupert Murdoch. They missed the deadline, and Murdoch picked someone he knew didn't have a strong background to defend Dow Jones' (NYSE: DJ) interest when he gobbles it up.

I thought it was a dark day when the Bancroft family decided to sell Dow Jones to Murdoch, but this makes the situation even darker. It will be sad to watch the remaking of what is one of the world's greatest financial news empires in Murdoch's image. Murdoch's reputation for driving his newspapers toward yellow journalism so that he can sell more papers certainly will not be good for the solid reputation of the Wall Street Journal or any of Dow Jones' well-respected publications.

I was hoping the family would at least have some say about the Journal's future on the News Corp board, but this choice does not offer a strong voice for financial journalism. I still have my subscription, but I wonder how long I'll continue that once Murdoch does his thing. Will you keep your subscription?

Lita Epstein has written more than 20 books including "Trading for Dummies" and "Reading Financial Reports for Dummies."

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Time Warner, down 18% this year, trades, at a multiple of 18. Disney, whose shares are little changed, is trading a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 17. News Corp., also little changed, is the most richly valued of the bunch with a forward p/e of 20. All three of them report earnings this week. To put it diplomatically, expectations are low. Disney is probably the most compelling value there because of strong brands and top-flight management.

Revenue at Time Warner is expected to be $1.41 billion, up 14.8% according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Earnings are expected to be 11 cents compared with 19 cents a year earlier. The stock rose today after the company announced that Jeff Bewkes would replace Richard Parsons as CEO starting next year. Don't expect any big changes at AOL, though. The strategy to turn around the Internet unit was developed by Bewkes. The company will come under pressure to divest AOL and other businesses including publishing. Earnings are due Wednesday.

Disney reports Thursday. Analysts aren't expecting much out of the Mouse House. Revenue is expected to inch up 2.2% to $8.98 billion. Earnings are expected at 41 cents versus 36 cents a year earlier. With the record-low dollar, the company's Theme Parks are dirt-cheap for foreign tourists. Earnings also should be helped by the "High School Musical" franchise and a solid performance by the ABC Television network.

There will be plenty of talk about the acquisition of Dow Jones & Co. (NYSE: DJ) on Thursday's News Corp. earnings conference call. There will also be discussion about the surging popularity of Facebook. Though so far the Fox Business Network has underwhelmed critics, Murdoch will no doubt put a positive spin on the channel's debut. Revenue for the quarter is expected to increase 9.6% to $6.48 billion. Earnings are pegged at 23 cents versus 19 cents a year earlier.

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Credit crunch? Not so for the venture capital space. According to various surveys, there is still lots of strength.

For example, the MoneyTree Report (from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association) shows $7.1 billion in VC investments for the third quarter. A report from Dow Jones (NYSE: DJ) VentureOne shows about $8.1 billion in fundings.

It certainly helps that there has been a pick-up in the IPO market. Oh, and the tech sector has had a nice rally. The most popular categories for VCs include software and biotech.

As for software, there has been a megatrend for on-demand offerings. As seen with the growth of companies like Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), VMware (NYSE: VMW) and Taleo (NASDAQ: TLEO), the enthusiasm is certainly understandable.

However, I'm not so sure about biotech. The sector has been fairly weak in terms of public offerings. But, then again, it seems biotech companies always need to raise gobs of money, right?

Something else: There's been a pick-up in cleantech deals. After all, with high energy prices, there appears to be lots of opportunity.

Visit DealProfiles.com if you want to see other recent VC fundings.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

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Recently, the New York Times (NYSE: NYT) said it will abandon its premium service -- and just give things away on its website. Even Dow Jones (NYSE: DJ) is thinking of doing the same with wsj.com.

Or take a look at television operators, such as CBS, which are providing free videos of popular shows.

Should your company think about doing the same? When is there a valid business case to be made for giving your product away?

Trynka Shineman, senior vice president of North American marketing for VistaPrint (NASDAQ: VPRT), thinks it can be a savvy move. After all, her company has been successful in giving away its business cards.

"Make sure you have a clearly defined objective for your offer and a marketing plan to meet that objective," said Shineman. "For example, do you want to generate leads? Referrals? Are you trying to cross-sell existing customers new products or services? Are you trying to retain your customers? For example, if you are trying to generate new customers, make sure you have a plan to convert free trials into purchases - that is, including offers for subsequent purchases with the free product. Getting your product into the hands of a potential customer is only beneficial if you turn that potential customer into a customer."

Or consider Spiceworks. The company develops sophisticated IT management software - and gives it away.

The catch? Spiceworks makes money through advertising.

"We wanted to target the small and medium size business market," said Jay Hallberg, the co-founder and VP of marketing at Spiceworks. "We know it's a huge market. The problem is that it can be difficult to get customers. So by making the product free, we got lots of adoption."

In fact, Spiceworks has a user base of over 120,000 users, which is certainly attractive to various advertisers. The company has deals with Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), McAfee (NYSE: MFE) and Rackspace

"If you plan on building an ad-based model," said Hallberg, "it's important to start placing ads on the site from the start. If not, you may disrupt the user experience."

Spiceworks initially used Google (NASDAQ: GOOG)'s AdSense system.

Hallberg also recommends: "Make sure you monitor the traffic and get details on your users. This is critical for getting sponsors."

Yet again, Spiceworks uses another Google product to help out -- called Google Analytics. And, of course, it's free.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

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Michael Copps, a member of the FCC, said that the tests for some upcoming mergers should be set higher. Two deals over which he showed special concern were the Sirius (NASDAQ: SIRI) merger with XM (NASDAQ: XMSR) and the News Corp (NYSE: NWS) purchase of Dow Jones (NYSE: DJ).

Mr Copps' worries about Dow Jones are simple enough. He is troubled that Mr. Murdoch will have such a large concentration of media in New York

He shows even more interest in the Sirius plan. The Wall Street Journal writes that "as one of five FCC commissioners, Mr. Copps will cast a vote on whether the Sirius-XM merger and Tribune sale should be allowed to proceed." Copps may want the satellite radio companies to give more guarantees on prices charged to consumers.

XM and Sirius stocks have both moved off lows as it appeared that approval for their merger looks more certain. The stocks are sill severely depressed. Copps comments may help push them down again.

While the satellite radio company merger may face more opposition than was anticipated recently, the firms still have a compelling argument about how competitive the marketplace is. They continue to lose money and, without some change in their structures, their debt loads could sink them. Perhaps someone will point that out to Copps.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

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The Associated Press reports that News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) Fox News Network plans to launch Fox Business Network (FBN) to compete with General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal's CNBC on October 15. Will the two really compete? CNBC targets upscale investors while FBN says it's targeting Main Street.

One interesting detail in this article is that Dow Jones & Company's (NYSE: DJ) arrangement with CNBC -- giving it exclusive access to the Wall Street Journal until 2012 -- only covers business-related news. This allows FBN to use Journal coverage of other areas such as Washington and lifestyle topics.

I think CNBC will feel threatened by FBN and continue to respond by offering conservative-leaning and big-business-boosterish coverage. Meanwhile FBN will use its well-practiced brand of Amen Chorus stories that both demonize the enemy -- in this case CNBC -- while appearing to support the voiceless, powerless little guy. If I ran CNBC, I would focus primarily on giving my core audience more of what it wants and not try to imitate FBN through patriotic-sounding stories.

Advertisers will pay a premium to access CNBC's upscale viewers and GE cannot afford to lose those dollars.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates,. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He owns GE stock, has consulted to News Corp.'s CEO, has appeared as a guest on CNBC and Forbes on Fox, and has no financial interest in Dow Jones.

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