News International is the start charging readers of the The Times and Sunday Times to look at articles on its website from June. The papers’ articles and comment pieces are currently available to be read for free on the Times Online website. NI said it would launch new websites in May for both papers, which […]
News International is the start charging readers of the The Times and Sunday Times to look at articles on its website from June. The papers’ articles and comment pieces are currently available to be read for free on the Times Online website.
NI said it would launch new websites in May for both papers, which would then charge for access from June. Web users will pay £1 for a day’s access, and £2 to subscribe for a week. NI chief executive Rebekah Brooks described the move as “a crucial step towards making the business of news an economically exciting proposition.”
26/03/2010
NI has suggested its other UK papers, The Sun and News of the World, are likely to follow the move.
Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of News Corporation, signalled last year his plans to charge to read his newspapers online. His company’s titles include the Times and Sunday Times, along with the Wall Street Journal and the Australian.
“Quality journalism is not cheap,” he said. “The digital revolution has opened many new and inexpensive distribution channels but it has not made content free. We intend to charge for all our news websites.”
Murdoch has also threatened to prevent the Google from using News Corporation stories on its search indexes.
