NY Times begins charging for digital access

The AP reports: The New York Times began charging yesterday for full access to its website and mobile services.

The third-largest U.S. newspaper is charging $15 every four weeks, or $195 a year, to read more than 20 articles a month on its website. That fee also covers a subscription on the newspaper's software for smartphones. The new fees kicked in at about 2 p.m. EDT.

Readers who want unlimited access on the website and the Times' software for Apple Inc.'s iPad tablet computer have to pay $20 every four weeks, or $260 annually. A digital subscription covering the website and both mobile options costs $35 every four weeks, or $455 annually.

The New York Times Co. is charging for digital access because online advertising revenue hasn't grown fast enough to offset losses in print ads.

Print subscribers will keep free online access. The Times is hoping to bring in more digital revenue while giving print readers more reason to keep their subscriptions.

The company declined to say yesterday how many people have signed up for a digital subscription. But yesterday afternoon, the newspaper's customer-service line has a message telling people that they should expect longer-than-usual waiting times because of a high number of callers.

There are still ways for Web surfers to keep reading Times articles for free after they reach the 20-article limit in a given month.

Readers coming from a search engine such as Google or Yahoo get five free articles per search service per day. And there are no limits on the amount of traffic coming from two of the Web's most popular tools for sharing information, Facebook and Twitter.

The Times said users of the iPhone and Android devices have to download a new version of the Times' software. An updated BlackBerry app is coming soon, so those users will get free access for now.

Shares of The New York Times Co. fell 6 cents yesterday to close at $9.22.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sunny von Bulow dies after 28 years in coma

Image
After spending nearly 28 years in an irreversible coma, heiress and socialite Martha "Sunny" von Bulow died Saturday in a New York nursing home, according to a family statement. She was 76. Von Bulow was subject of one of the nation's most sensational criminal cases during the 1980s. Her husband, Claus, was accused of trying to kill her with an overdose of insulin, which prosecutors alleged sent her into the coma. He was convicted of making two attempts on her life, but the conviction was overturned on appeal. He was acquitted in a second trial. His retrial in 1985 received national attention. (Via CNN )
Read more

Ric Alonso resigns from pageant association after porn revelation

Image
Kevin Hogan wasn't the only person this week ambushed out of a job for his participation in the gay adult film industry. FOX News reports : Ric Alonso and his partner of 21 years, Ernie Koneck, have both been both prominent power players in the Southern California Scholarship Association — an incorporated not-for-profit association — which produces the Miss Hollywood pageant, an official preliminary to Miss California, and a feeder to Miss America. Alonso is listed as the first “major sponsor” for 2011 scholarship donations, while partner Koneck has been the pageantry point of contact and is featured in photographs alongside the smiling young sashed pageant contestants. On Tuesday, Alonso was exposed by RadarOnline as adult film actor and producer "Jake Cruise". FOX News adds: Following the revelation, Koneck announced his resignation Tuesday as Executive Director of the Southern California Scholarship Association, and said Alonso was in no way involved in the Miss Holl
Read more

Make Jerry Curl Great Again

Image
You can't consider yourself a writer if you don't write. In recent years, I have probably said those words to myself so often that they could be considered a mantra; a mantra that I don't want to embody but one that is nonetheless true. I don't write anymore. I don't write to faraway friends. I don't write to remember. I don't write for pleasure. I don't write for release. I don't even Tweet. At a recent job interview (for another job I didn't really want), I was asked what I would do for a living if I could do anything. Without even thinking about it, I said I would be a writer. But that was a stock answer. It's the answer I've always given to that question. But this time the answer felt phony. It felt forced. It didn't feel like me anymore. The real, ugly, scary truth is that I don't know if I still got the right stuff to be the writer I wanted to be. While I have always questioned the validity of my own voice (my
Read more