29 March 2010 12:10
News International is to introduce a pay wall to its Times and Sunday Times websites from June onwards.
The
publisher expects to shed casual readers and instead focus on
"super-serving" a customer base that has been built up ahead of the pay
wall through special subscriber initiatives.
Readers will be
charged either £1 a day to access content or £2 for a week's use. Those
that subscribe to the print version will have free access to the
websites.
Other newspapers will be assessing the impact of the
move, which may resuscitate an industry which has seen revenues fall by
£700 million in the past year.
The Sunday Times told its readers
last weekend: "If we keep giving it away [content] we will no longer be
able to do that. Inevitably the spending will decline, and with it the
quality of the journalism.
"We believe many readers will be
prepared to pay this relatively small amount because they value our
journalism and they understand that nothing of value is free."
