By: E&P Staff After nearly a year of internal debate, The New York Times Wednesday officially chose a pay model for some of its online content: the meter.
But the new pay system won't be introduced at NYTimes.com until 2011, the paper said.
"Through 2010, NYTimes.com will be building a new online infrastructure designed to provide consumers with a frictionless experience across multiple platforms," a company statement said. "Once the metered model is implemented, New York Times home delivery print subscribers will continue to have free access to NYTimes.com."
The Times' metered model is similar to the approach used by the Financial Times. Users will have free access to a certain number of articles each month, and will be charged for access for additional stories.
In its announcement, the Times portrayed metering as the best of both worlds, providing revenue while preserving its ad business. Metering "will also provide the necessary flexibility to keep an appropriate ratio between free and paid content and stay connected to a search-driven Web," the newspaper said.
"Our new business model is designed to provide additional support for The New York Times' extraordinary, professional journalism," said Arthur Sulzberger Jr., chairman of The New York Times Company and the Times' publisher. "Our audiences are very loyal and we believe that our readers will pay for our award-winning digital content and services."
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here