Categories: Need to know

The Times, they are a-chargin'

New York Times to charge for online content early next year

by macleans.ca on Wednesday, January 20, 2010 12:32pm - 7 Comments

The New York Times has announced it will begin charging for “frequent access” to its website beginning in early 2011. Visitors to NYTimes.com will receive a certain number of articles for free, before being prompted to pay a flat fee for unlimited access. Print edition subscribers will receive full access to the site. Newspapers have struggled for years to find a way to monetize their online content, and New York Times chairman and publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said “we can’t get this halfway right or three-quarters right. We have to get this really, really right.”

New York Times

Jack

Good. Now most people can escape their Yankee brainwashing.
Andrew (not Potter or Coyne)

I’m assuming they are going to do this with cookies, which means it won’t work since people can just delete the cookie. Either that, or they will require people sign up for accounts and try to control access that way, which has a chance of success except most people won’t be bothered to create an account.

Craig O

There's hints that this will be the case. Commenting in some sections of their site (mostly their slew of supported blogs) used to be much like it is here, but just today one of their resident bloggers indicated that an account is now needed for that too. Looks like they're easing people into it, which seems a better mechanism than the Wall Street Journal's tact of "you pay now!"

Mark

They already charge money and require registration for their crossword puzzles (which are pretty much the only worthwhile thing on the site), so it's hardly a mystery how this is going to work.
http://Www.macleansfordummies.blogspot.com I WANT MY NAME BACK

This is the wrong way to go. Not brave enough. They have the ‘timely’ content people people want ‘on time’ — or — they suck! Put a price on it already. Keep the archives free.
sally oakley

i just unsubscribed my rss feed…. enough garbage. already.
http://intensedebate.com/people/novagardener novagardener

I happened to switch on an American TV show in the wee hours the other night about this same discussion. One panelist (?) mentioned that a Florida paper, IIRC, instead of outright charging people, asked online readers to make a contribution. I think it was a recent 'strategy' so not sure how this will work.

Personally, I'd never pay to read any of Murdoch's garbage.