NY Times Trying New Pay-To-Read Web Model
Via Michele Malkin...
Sounds like a mistake to me. The archive access part is nice. And including print subscribers automatically is a good idea too.
But look at the stuff they're walling off to entice people to cough up $50: opinion and early access to news. More and more of both are available for free all over the web these days. Would you rather pay $50 to read Krugman and Dowd? Or find alternatives for free?
Hey, the online market is chaotic enough I can't definitively rule this out as working. But if I had to place a bet, I'd bet against it. It's trying to market something too many other people do as well or better. I think ego is racing ahead of common sense here.
UPDATE:
Todd, at Reasonable Prudence, has a similar assessment, and hits upon a potential downside:
This could have an unintended effect of taking Times columnists out of the general conversation on the matters of the day.
The New York Times Co. on Monday said that, starting in September, access to Op-Ed and certain of its top news columnists on the paper's NYTimes.com Web site will only be available through a fee of $49.95 a year. The service, known as TimesSelect, will also allow access to The Times's online archives, early access to select articles on the site, and other features. Home-delivery subscribers will automatically receive the service, the NYT said.
Sounds like a mistake to me. The archive access part is nice. And including print subscribers automatically is a good idea too.
But look at the stuff they're walling off to entice people to cough up $50: opinion and early access to news. More and more of both are available for free all over the web these days. Would you rather pay $50 to read Krugman and Dowd? Or find alternatives for free?
Hey, the online market is chaotic enough I can't definitively rule this out as working. But if I had to place a bet, I'd bet against it. It's trying to market something too many other people do as well or better. I think ego is racing ahead of common sense here.
UPDATE:
Todd, at Reasonable Prudence, has a similar assessment, and hits upon a potential downside:
I think that most people will just learn to wait or, even worse for the Times, stop caring what its op-ed contributors have to say.
This could have an unintended effect of taking Times columnists out of the general conversation on the matters of the day.
Posted by Doug on
Monday May 16, 2005 at 3:50pm
