Times website to charge from June

2010-03-26 05:27:02

The Times and Sunday Times newspapers will start charging to access their

websites in June, owner News International (NI) has announced.

Users will pay 1 for a day's access and 2 for a week's subscription.

The move opens a new front in the battle for readership and will be watched

closely by the industry.

NI chief executive Rebekah Brooks said it was "a crucial step towards making

the business of news an economically exciting proposition".

Both titles will launch new websites in early May, separating their digital

presence for the first time and replacing the existing, combined site, Times

Online.

ANALYSIS

Tim Weber, business editor, BBC News website

"Free" is an easy sell, but an awful business model if you offer expensively

produced content while trying to make a living (and healthy profits). Like most

commercial media organisations, News International is desperate to earn enough

money online to make up for the sharp decline of its traditional media

business. But there are no ready-made solutions to survive the on-demand media

revolution.

There are many reasons why the Times model is likely to fail. There is no

widely accepted system of online micro payments for consumers of news. And

especially English language media have plenty of free competitors - both

commercial rivals and public service organisations like the BBC. But what are

the alternatives? There is a limited supply of Russian oligarchs to step in and

sustain the losses suffered by old media (like The Independent newspaper).

As technology and media consumption habits evolve, the industry will come up

with payment and subscription models; the newspapers that fail on the way will

be commemorated in the Church of the Dead Tree.

The two new sites will be available for a free trial period to registered

customers. And payment will give customers access to both sites.

With newspaper sales in decline, companies have been searching for a business

model that will make money from their websites.

But with so much news content available for free on the internet, NI's decision

to charge is seen by many people as a high risk strategy.

James Harding, editor of The Times, agreed that there was a risk. "But it's

less of a risk than just throwing away our journalism and giving it away from

free," he told the BBC.

He likened the news industry to the music industry of four years ago. "People

said the game is up for the music industry because everyone is downloading for

free. But now people are buying from download sites."

Ms Brooks said the decision to charge came "at a defining moment for

journalism... We are proud of our journalism and unashamed to say that we

believe it has value.

"This is just the start. The Times and The Sunday Times are the first of our

four titles in the UK to move to this new approach. We will continue to develop

our digital products and to invest and innovate for our customers."

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/8588432.stm

Published: 2010/03/26 09:49:22 GMT