New York Times announces plans to charge for some content online
The New York Times announced today that it will begin charging for Op-Ed and news columns on NYTimes.com as part of a new online subscription called TimesSelect. For $49.95 a year or free for print subscribers, TimesSelect members will also get access to The Times archives, exclusive online multimedia (audio and photo essays, video and podcasts), a first look at some articles, and "TimesFile," a new tool that helps readers tag and organize articles from The Times.
Everyone in the online news industry will be watching to see how successful The Times is in its approach, especially in light of latimes.com's recent decision to end its subscription for calendarlive.com.
Full announcement, with many more details, follows:
The New York Times Announces TimesSelect - New Online Offering to Launch in September
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 16, 2005--The New York Times announced today a new online offering called TimesSelect, which for a modest fee will provide exclusive access to Op-Ed and news columnists on NYTimes.com, easy and in-depth access to The Times's online archives, early access to select articles on the site, as well as other exciting features.
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.
"This is a great offering," said Martin Nisenholtz, senior vice president of digital operations. "TimesSelect combines the insights and ideas of distinctive voices from The Times and IHT with seamless access to our archives in an unprecedented way and at a terrific price point. At the same time, by keeping the majority of the site free, we will continue to scale the business through strong advertising growth."
This offering marks an important step forward in the Company's overall digital strategy. Since the Times Company launched its digital operations in the mid 90s, it has had three business objectives for them - profitability, scale and revenue diversification. In 2001 the Company's digital properties achieved profitability and earlier this year, the acquisition of About, Inc. increased their scale. The launch of TimesSelect further diversifies their revenue base.
TimesSelect's features include:
-- Special Voices - Access to some of the most influential and
insightful voices today, including David Brooks, Maureen Dowd,
Tom Friedman, Bob Herbert, Nicholas Kristof, Paul Krugman,
Frank Rich, John Tierney, Dave Anderson, Peter Applebome,
Harvey Araton, Dan Barry, Clyde Haberman, Gretchen Morgenson,
Joe Nocera, Floyd Norris, Joyce Purnick, William Rhoden,
Selena Roberts, George Vescey, Roger Cohen, and John Vinocur.
-- TimesPast - Easy and in-depth access to The Times's extensive
archives.
-- Exclusive Multi-Media - Unique features for TimesSelect
subscribers including audio and photo essays, video and
podcasts.
-- TimesFile - A new tool that helps readers tag and organize
articles from The Times.
-- Ahead of The Times - A first look at articles that will appear
in sections such as Real Estate, The New York Times Magazine,
Travel and Sunday Arts.
-- TimesNewstracker - An e-mail alert that enables readers to
track news important to them. This successful product is
currently sold separately but will be included as part of this
new suite of benefits.
The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading media company with 2004 revenues of $3.3 billion, includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 16 other newspapers, eight network-affiliated television stations, two New York City radio stations and more than 40 Web sites, including NYTimes.com, Boston.com and About.com. For the fifth consecutive year, the Company was ranked No. 1 in the publishing industry in Fortune's 2005 list of America's Most Admired Companies. The Company's core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.
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1 Weblogs reference 'New York Times announces plans to charge for some content online' New York Times to Become Gated CommunityTrackback excerpt: The New York Times has announced that it is moving some of its free web-based content to a subscription plan. The announcement isn’t entirely clear on what will be placed behind the subscription wall, but “charging users an annual fee to r... [Read More]
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