And it’s official: @nytimes to charge for web access beginning in ‘11.
Amplify’d from www.nytimes.com
The Times to Charge for Frequent Access to Its Web Site
The New York Times announced Wednesday that it intended to charge frequent readers for access to its Web site, a step being debated across the industry that nearly every major newspaper has so far feared to take.
Starting in early 2011, visitors to NYTimes.com will get a certain number of articles free every month before being asked to pay a flat fee for unlimited access. Subscribers to the newspaper’s print edition will receive full access to the site.
Read more at www.nytimes.com
Categories: News & Media
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RT @shonali And it’s official: @nytimes to charge for web access beginning in ‘11. http://amplify.com/u/1gls - the ramifications of this will be significant. Should this fail, you likely won’t see many publishers charging for a very long time. but should this succeed, i expect many will soon follow. A suggestion i’ve often thought about is if many of the world’s leading publishers joined together and charged a monthly fee for access to the entire package (similar to how you can buy a plan on Cable that includes HBO, Showtime, etc.) and then divided up the proceeds on some sort of pro-rata basis. Might be more effective than each of them trying to charge separately.
1 month agoRe: http://amplify.com/u/1gls @shonali That’s an interesting thought, Eric. I wonder if that could lead to a monopolistic/duopolistic situation, though, and then the whole anti-trust thing, etc. It’s going to be very interesting to see where this goes.
1 month agoI mean, if you’re a NYT reader now and ded... more
So odd to see what I would previously have considered an ad-driven and paid for show like the NYT decide to float such a risky trial balloon.
I mean, if you’re a NYT reader now and dedicated, they’ll likely keep you after the paywall rolls through, but if you simply use the NYT as an online resource of news, this will likely drive you off entirely.
Not a trend I would recommend, driving off your less-committed customers, they’re very important and often will become your next set of more-committed customers.
Great article.
1 month agoSign of the times, people will pay for content however not sure what the right price is going to be.
1 month agoThe New York Onl... more
Who says public libraries will die in 21 century? Reason #450007 as to why we need public access to quality information as provided by your friendly neighborhood library.
The New York Online Virtual Electronic Library (NOVEL) program provides all New Yorkers with access to a multitude of subscription full-text periodical database free of charge. http://novelnewyork.org/
As publishers charges for electronic content access, libraries should pick up the costs and make available the content.
1 month ago