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NY Times Op-Ed Page Goes Subscriber-Only
kevinatilusa writes "The New York Times has announced an expanded subscription service to be launched this September. Subscriptions will cost $49.95 per year and include access to both the Times archives (currently available on a pay-by-the-article basis) and to the paper's op-ed columnists (currently available for free, but probably not for long). The Times also posted a more detailed explanation (registration required) for their decision."
The Times also posted a more detailed explanation (registration required) for their decision.
"We're greedy bastards!"?
What is the benifit on their side for the public to register to read articles online? Just to be able to sell their emails?
What? You actually give them real information??
What?
Let's see, increasing prices in a dying industry. That makes a lot of sense, right?
The NY Times is extremely relevant to today's world. For example, they give BugMeNot a reason to exist. You don't want to put the hardworking folks at BugMeNot out of business, do you?
business in meatspace, and try to move it to cyberspace, (I hate that word)
But you like the word "meatspace?"
The New York Times announced yesterday that it would offer a new subscription-based service on its Web site, charging users an annual fee to read its Op-Ed and news columnists, as the newspaper seeks ways to capitalize on the site's popularity.
Press Release (nytco.com) Most material on the Web site, NYTimes.com, will remain free to users, The Times said, but columnists from The Times and The International Herald Tribune will be available only to users who sign up for TimesSelect, which will cost $49.95 a year. The service will also include access to The Times's online archives, as well as other features.
The service, which is scheduled to start in September, will be provided free to home-delivery subscribers of the newspaper.
A decision by The Times about charging users for portions of its Web site had been expected for months in the media industry. While some efforts by other newspapers to charge for content online have worked, others have been withdrawn, including most recently one by The Los Angeles Times, which decided last week to stop charging users a fee for its online entertainment listings, reviews and criticism.
Though advertising on Web sites accounts for only 2 to 3 percent of the revenues of most newspapers, it is the fastest-growing source of revenue. Still, many newspaper Web sites fear that charging money for Internet content may send readers to free sites, with advertisers following close behind.
The New York Times's decision to charge a fee came after about a year of study, said Arthur Sulzberger Jr., chairman of the Times Company and publisher of the newspaper.
Mr. Sulzberger said that while some Internet users accustomed to free content might not be willing to pay, many others would be attracted by the online package of columnists, archives and other material.
"The advertising growth on the Web has been just spectacular the last few years," he said. "But like any business, it's going to mature over time, and when that happens, it will flatten and then you'll get into the normal cycles just like we do it on print. And at that point you're really going to need to have another revenue model."
He added, "This is going to help sustain the quality of the information that we make available."
Alexia S. Quadrani, a senior managing director at Bear, Stearns who follows the publishing and advertising industries, said The Times's plan made sense as a business model.
"All newspapers are looking for new advertising revenue and The New York Times realizes they have high-quality content and are looking at other ways to capitalize on it," she said. "The key is to that you want to maximize the dollars you get on the Internet without alienating the people."
In April, The Times's Web site had 1.7 million unique daily visitors. Its daily newspaper circulation in March 2005, the most recent month available, was 1,136,433.
The Times already charges for some content, including its crossword puzzle, news alerts and online archive. Articles are free for seven days after publication; a fee is charged once they are archived.
TimesSelect will also provide subscribers access to TimesPast, the paper's archives; exclusive multimedia, including audio and photo essays and video; TimesFile, a tool that will help users organize articles; and Ahead of The Times, which will allow subscribers to take an early look at articles that will appear in The New York Times Magazine, and the newspaper's Travel, Sunday Arts and Real Estate sections.
Martha Goldstein, a spokeswoman for The Los Angeles Times, said the paper still might charge for certain portions of its site.
Caroline Little, publisher of Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, the online media subsidiary of the Washington Post Company, said a fee is "something we're looking at very carefully," but added, "there haven't really been a lot of successful ventures."
The Wall Street Journal, which is the only national paper to charge for all of its online content,
"reality has a well-known liberal bias" - Steven Colbert
strangely enough I do, meatspace to me describes the world we live in, in a harsh light that reinforces the difficulties associated with getting things to work, when we have all of this delicate, stupid, and self destructive meat running around making meat noises, and more meat.
I guess I coud call it peoplespace, but it doesn't convey the same disdain I have for many of the folks who make my life difficult.
I used to have a cool sig, back when I cared
Is she really worth a dollar a week? Because I get *my* snide female urban sophisticate dosage for *free* via wonkette (even though it's not always Ana Marie Cox). Besides, Dowd jumped the shark in approx 1999 IMHO.
In order to explain to potential customers why they should register and pay for their content, they have placed the article as a registration required article.
Way to go NYT!
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
HK-47: "Statement: HK-47 is ready to serve, master."
Revan: "You don't need to call me master, you know."
HK-47: "Query: Don't I? I was under the assumption that organic meatbags such as yourself enjoyed such forms of address."
Revan: "Organic meatbags?"
HK-47: "Retraction: Did I say that out loud? I apologize, master. While you are a meatbag, I suppose I should not call you as such."
Revan: "You just called me a meatbag again!"
HK-47: "Explanation: It's just that... you have all these squishy parts, master. And all that water! How the constant sloshing doesn't drive you mad, I have no idea..."
Revan: "Neither do I, come to think of it..."
HK-47: "Statement: Now do you understand the travails of my existence, master? Surely it does not compare to your existence, but still..."
Revan: "I survive. Somehow."
HK-47: "Commentary: As do I. It is our lot in life, I suppose, master. Shall we find something to kill to cheer ourselves up?"
''Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic''
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
You can't install an ad-blocker in your head in meatspace
I don't see any ads when I'm wearing my tin-foil sunglasses.
My other first post is car post.
now I'll have to pay to hear where Chalabi says WMD are! oh no!
-pyrrho
With the shortage of things to read on the Internet we will have no other choice than to shell out $50 for this "service".
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/