Newspapers, Charging For Content | featured news

The Washington Post confirmed its intention to start charging for access to its website, making it one of the last major American newspapers to do so.

Charging its most avid readers for digital access was officially not a dumb idea for The New York Times. In its second quarter earnings announcement, the Times Co. included some attention-getting figures for its new digital subscription program, which launched in March. Since then, the paper has amassed some 224,000 digital-only subscribers. Another 57,000 subscribe to replica editions delivered on e-readers like the Kindle and the Nook. On top of that, there are the 100,000 people getting e-subscriptions sponsored by Lincoln.

The New York Times rolled out a plan on Thursday to begin charging the most frequent users of its Web site $15 a month in a bet that readers would pay for news they have grown accustomed to getting free.

The Boston Globe announced Thursday that the online version of its newspaper will be moving from Boston.com to BostonGlobe.com, and that it will begin charging for full access to the latter beginning the second half of next year.

Starting in early 2011, visitors to NYTimes.com will get a certain number of articles free every month before being asked to pay a flat fee for access.

According to internal sources, the New York Times may soon be charging users for its online content. In a move that would bring the publication parallel to the Wall Street Journal, NPR, and the Financial Times, the New York Times seems to have settled on a system that would allow online readers to sample a certain amount of content before being prompted to subscribe.

Microsoft and News Corp. have held discussions about a partnership that could result in News Corp. removing its newspaper content from Google's search engine while continuing to feature it on Microsoft's online properties.

According to a new Forrester survey, almost 80% of Internet users in the US and Canada would not pay for access to newspaper and magazine websites. Those users who would consider paying for content are mostly interested in subscriptions. Only a very small number of consumers is interested in making micropayments (3%).

Newsday will become one of a handful of U.S. newspapers to charge readers for access to its Web site, in what may be a sign of things to come for a troubled industry.