One of the sites I work on was heavily modelled on MarketWatch; in part because the former site’s editor worked on the latter, but also because the latter’s approach to covering the markets works.

The major difference is the cost of both sites; GlobeinvestorGOLD is a pay site, MarketWatch is free. We use globeinvestor.com (and, to a lesser extent, globefund.com) to feed GOLD, and now it looks like Dow Jones will be using MarketWatch to feed and support the Wall Street Journal Online.

As News.com’s Jeff Pelline wrote, Dow Jones is half-a-billion dollar investment is a dramatic attempt to both catch-up and not lose ground (a less expensive strategy was seen last week when WSJ.com lifted its pay-wall).

For more on what this means, read the former chairman of TheStreet.com’s own analysis. Also, PaidContent.org has an audio interview with MarketWatch’s CEO, Larry Kramer.

One thing seems certain, content is still the king.