Google CEO, Eric Schmidt has added his voice to the debate about charging for online news content.

Speaking via video link with British broadcasting executives, Schmidt said there is so much free content online that many publishers would not succeed if they put their content behind a pay wall.Eric Schmidt, Google CEOHe did say niche news providers of content such as business news could be successful with charging for access to online content.Schmidt was responding to an announcement made by News Corp that it would start charging for content online.In general these models have not worked for general public consumption because there are enough free sources that the marginal value of paying is not justified based on the incremental value of quantity, he said.