The chief executive of News Corporation, who some fifteen years ago said the future of newspaper revenue was in advertising not in the cover prices, has suggested that his newspapers, which include the UK publishing arm News International's The Times and The Sun, will soon charge for the use of their websites.

He said: "We are now in the midst of an epochal debate on the value of content and it is clear to many newspapers that the current model is malfunctioning.

"We have been at the forefront of that debate and you can confidently presume that we are leading the way in finding a model that maximises revenues in return for our shareholders. The current days of the internet will soon be over."

Murdoch has always been a trendsetter for the industry, almost single-handedly keeping the cost of newspapers down for the best part of 20 years.

It is possible that the rest of the newspaper industry will follow suit and charge for access, however it is a risky model if the rest of the nationals continue to offer their news free of charge.

The announcement will be a boost to the BBC, which will have to remain free-of-charge regardless. If rival websites start asking for donations for use, the world's most visited news website could see its figures rocket.

Murdoch made the claim in the aftermath of the publication of News Corporation's financial results for the third quarter of 2009 and its annual results to June 2008 for UK subsidiaries The Times Group and The News Group.

News Corporation's newspaper and information services took a massive hit in the third quarter, dropping $209m (£139m) to $7m based on the 2007 figures for the same period.

Like the rest of the newspaper industry, News Corporation has put this loss down to lower advertising revenue.

For the two main newspaper groups within the UK's News International there were mixed results, but both companies lost money during the financial year.

News Group, which owns The Sun and the News of The World, actually increased its turnover to £626m from £623m.

However, it recorded an £18m loss, on the back of a £10m profit in 2007. Times Newspapers also made a loss of £42m, while its turnover dropped from £447m to £442m.

The losses include depreciation charges related to the presses at Wapping, but also take into account an increase in revenue for several of its newspapers through cover price increases.

Results out today revealed that Murdoch's London freesheet, Thelondonpaper, has nearly doubled the size of its overdraft (to more than £26m) after it made losses of almost £13m in the 12 months to June 2008, according to accounts filed at Companies House.

Thelondonpaper is published by NI Free Newspapers, a subsidy of Murdoch's News International. The annual loss was lower than a £16.8m loss in its first 10 months from September 2006 to June 2007.