Man, they just don’t get it, do they?
While most of the news, features and multi-media on NYTimes .com will remain free and available to users, the work of Op-Ed columnists and some of the best known voices from the news side of The Times and The International Herald Tribune (IHT) will be available only to TimesSelect subscribers beginning in September. Home-delivery subscribers will automatically receive TimesSelect as part of their benefits. TimesSelect will be priced at $49.95 for an annual subscription.
Instead of choosing this business model, the Times could have gone the Salon route and required ad-watching to access content (right now, it conveniently offers a link to “skip this ad”). That would have kept its content accessible to those who could not afford the new subscription service. And it would have kept its content in the blogosphere, which helps drive traffic to its site.
At a time of intensifying media competition, while other newspapers are embracing new modes of communication, the Times makes a move that will significantly decrease its readership and influence. But hey, maybe we should cut the Times some slack; after all, not every city can be as forward-thinking as Philadelphia.
I want my Frank Rich, Paul Krugman, Maureen Dowd, and Bob Herbert, but I can’t afford to pay fifty bucks for access. Too bad for them and for me.
4 Comments on "Pay Up"
ALa:
Even the Salon route turns me off… I used to read the Daou Report all the time, but I refuse to watch ads to get to a blog (even one that does link to my site here and there)… They (OpEd writers) should look at it like free advertising for their books –I am sure that’s where they make most of their money anyway… No one will buy their books if they don’t know who they are and no one will know who they are if they limit access to their work…
Matt! We agree! ;)
PLD:
Just found you via the Philly Meetup - I’m so excited to meet a fellow mediaphyte here in Philly. Will miss you at the Meetup, but will be back to check your site for sure.
Matt:
Hey PLD, welcome to the blog. I never thought of myself as a mediaphyte, but if the shoe fits…
The Tattered Coat » Blog Archive » TimesSelect: So Long, and Thanks for All the Quips:
[…] As I wrote in my first post on TimesSelect, this seems like a sure-fire way for the Times to deflate its influence and decrease its relevance in an increasingly crowded new-media market. Maybe some of the bigger blogs that rake in thousands of dollars per donation drive will be able to afford this service, but smaller sites like this one will have a hard time paying that $50 fee. […]
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