New York Times to charge for online content
New York Times to charge for online content
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By Alistair Potter. |  |
Thursday, 21, Jan 2010 02:36
By Alex Steger.
The New York Times has announced plans to charge readers for full access to its website.
It is the third time the 159-year-old paper has tried to get readers to pay for online content.
The charges, which will come into force next year, will work on a metering system and will allow readers to access a limited amount of content for free each month, before charging fees.
It is currently not decided what the fees will be nor the extent of the free access, but subscribers to the print edition of the paper will continue to enjoy full access to the website.
The decision is the latest move by the paper in an ongoing struggle to get web users to pay for what they read.
The New York Times is the third best selling newspaper in the US, behind the Wall Street Journal and US Today, with week day circulation of 995,000 and 1.4 million on Sundays. It also boasts one of the largest web readerships with 12.4 million last month and enjoys nationwide appeal in the US with 16 offices outside New York and a further 26 around the world.
Like other papers The New York Times has struggled financially as advertising revenues dried up due to the global financial crisis. The paper's parent company, the New York Times Company, suffered a loss of $70 million in the nine months to September last year. As a result, journalists at the paper were made to take a five per cent pay cut, with 100 jobs were also cut.
In an interview with the paper Arthur Sulzberger, The New York Times' publisher, said of the plans to charge for online content: "This is a bet, to a certain degree, in where we think the web is going.
"Our audiences are very loyal and we believe that our readers will pay for our award-winning digital content and services.
"This process of rethinking our business model has also been driven by our desire to achieve additional revenue diversity that will make us less susceptible to the inevitable economic cycles."