[LINK] Newspapers online

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

News Corp to charge for UK Times online from June

by Georgina Prodhan, London, Fri Mar 26, 2010  www.reuters.com


(Reuters) - News Corp will charge readers for online versions of its UK 
Times and Sunday Times newspapers from June, becoming the first media 
firm to test consumers' appetite to pay for mass-market news online.

Access to two new websites for the two titles will cost 1 pound ($1.49) 
per day or 2 pounds for a week. Subscribers to the print versions will 
get free access, News Corp said on Friday.

"This is just the start," said Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News 
Corp's British newspaper unit News International which also publishes the 
Sun daily tabloid and sister paper The News of the World on Sundays.

"At a defining moment for journalism, this is a crucial step toward 
making the business of news an economically exciting proposition," she 
said in a statement.

Newspapers in Western Europe and the United States have been battered by 
the recession while fighting a structural shift in their business from 
paid-for newspapers to largely free news on the Web.

Two business newspapers -- the Financial Times and News Corp's Wall 
Street Journal -- charge readers for online access but consumer 
publications have so far not followed, fearing a massive loss of readers.

News Corp chief executive Rupert Murdoch has become a kind of champion of 
paid-for online news, saying Internet giant Google has deprived the 
industry of revenue by making news articles searchable for free.

In January, The New York Times said it would start charging readers for 
access to online articles from next year, acknowledging that advertising 
revenues were unlikely to be able to fund its journalism in the future.

The editors of the Times and Sunday Times promised interactive features 
to get readers more involved, personalized news feeds, and coming 
versions for phones, e-readers, tablet computers and other mobile devices.

The Times and the Sunday Times will launch new, separate websites in 
early May, which will be free to registered customers for a trial period.

The print version of the Times costs 1 pound on weekdays and 1.50 pounds 
on Saturdays, and the Sunday Times costs 2 pounds.

--

Cheers,
Stephen