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Murdoch’s paywall goes up: Times starts charging
Times and Sunday Times start charging for online news as readers desert in droves
Rupert Murdoch finally put a paywall around the Times and Sunday Times today. Users will now have to pay £1 for 24 hours or £2 for a week of access to the two websites. It is the first significant move towards pay-per-view in the UK news website market.
The Times's rivals, the Guardian and Daily Mail have indicated they will maintain free access for now, but obviously they will keep an eye on developments at Wapping.
The signs so far are not good. The Times and Sunday Times introduced compulsory registration for readers at the end of May. Even though access was free, the papers’ market share fell from 4.37 per cent in the week ending May 22 to 1.81 per cent on June 23.
In an attempt to hold onto the few readers who remain, the Times and Sunday Times are starting off with an introductory offer of £1 for the first 30 days.
Rebekah Brooks, CEO of News International, put a brave face on the potentially disastrous transition: "We have been very pleased with the response from readers since the launch of the new websites for The Times and The Sunday Times in May.
"We believe the new sites offer real value and we look forward to continuing to invest and innovate for readers."
The Murdoch's tabloids, the Sun and News of the World are expected to charge for access in the near future. ·
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Comments
This is a stark example of the 'madness of murdock'! There are no circumstances, nor any examples in the history of human development where a veritable plethora of 'freebies' arrayed against a stand-alone product (and a pretty mediocre product the times is!) where the 'stand-alone' outshines its competitors simply by charging for the product! If he (murdock) understands the market-place he's taken leave of his senses --- if on the other hand he just wants to deprive people of his publication --- then this experiment is going to be a roaring success!
I believe the new format is very good and worth paying for but I think the charge is too high. I would be happy to pay half what is being asked.