Great news! We can only hope others will follow. Thanks for sharing this. Bonnie McDonald Researching in DC - Bailey, Viehmann, French --- mbousman <mbousman7@cox.net> wrote: > http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/18/business/media/18times.html?ex=1347768000&en=880b1ab05717fa9d&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss > > New York Times > September 18, 2007 > Times to Stop Charging for Parts of Its Web Site > By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA > > The New York Times will stop charging for access to > parts of its Web > site, effective at midnight Tuesday night, > reflecting a growing view in > the industry that subscription fees cannot outweigh > the potential ad > revenue from increased traffic on a free site. > > The move comes two years to the day after The Times > began the > subscription program, TimesSelect, which has charged > $49.95 a year, or > $7.95 a month, for online access to its columnists' > work and to the > newspaper's archives. TimesSelect has been free to > print subscribers to > The Times, and to some students and educators. > > In addition to opening the entire site to all > readers, The Times will > also make available its archives from 1987 to the > present without > charge, as well as those from 1851 to 1922, which > are in the public > domain. > > The newspaper said the TimesSelect project had met > expectations, drawing > 227,000 paying subscribers - out of 787,000 over all > - and generating > about $10 million a year in revenue. > > "But our projections for growth on that paid > subscriber base were low, > compared to the growth of online advertising," said > Vivian L. Schiller, > senior vice president and general manager of the > site, NYTimes.com. > > What changed, The Times said, was that many more > readers started coming > to the site from search engines and links on other > sites instead of > coming directly to NYtimes.com. These indirect > readers, unable to gain > access to articles behind the pay wall and less > likely to pay > subscription fees than the more loyal direct users, > were seen as > opportunities for more page views and increased > advertising revenue. > > "What wasn't anticipated was the explosion in how > much of our traffic > would be generated by Google, by Yahoo and some > others," Ms. Schiller > said. > > The Times's site has about 13 million unique > visitors each month, > according to Nielsen/NetRatings, far more than any > other newspaper site. > Ms. Schiller would not say how much increased Web > traffic the paper > expects from eliminating the charges, or how much > additional ad revenue > the move was expected to generate. > > Those who have paid in advance for access to > TimesSelect will be > reimbursed on a prorated basis. > > The Wall Street Journal is the only major newspaper > in the country to > charge for access to most of its Web site, and it > has nearly 1 million > paying online readers. But its parent, Dow Jones & > Company, is studying > whether to continue the practice, according to > people briefed on those > talks. > > Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corporation is about to > take over Dow Jones, > has talked of the possibility of making access to > The Journal free > online. > > The Financial Times charges for access to selected > material online, much > as The New York Times has. The Los Angeles Times > tried that model in > 2005, but quickly dropped it, after seeing a sharp > decline in Web > traffic. > > Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email > to WASHINGTONDC-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > the body of the message >