Why Murdoch closed his London freesheet

The Guardian: Monday 24 August 2009, Ciar Byrne and Ben Dowell
HAVING DECLARED that free has no part in the future of news, Rupert Murdoch last week pulled the plug on his London freesheet … The real driving force behind the decision is Rupert Murdoch's new-found evangelism for paid-for content. This month he declared News Corp's mission is "to increase our revenue from all our content". A loss-making free paper does not fit into this vision … in closing the London Paper the Murdochs have underlined their belief that charging for news is the way forward. Douglas McCabe, a media analyst with Enders Media in London, says: "Murdoch is saying 'enough is enough'. He's saying newsrooms have value and by giving away free content you devalue them. It would be somewhat ambiguous to start charging for online news and still give away news in a free paper."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/aug/24/thelondonpaper-rupert-murdoch-news-international