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Newsday.com to begin charging readers
2009-10-22
WASHINGTON (AFP) - New York newspaper Newsday announced on Thursday it would begin charging readers of its website next week in a move that will be closely watched by other struggling US dailies. Newsday said readers who do not subscribe to the print version of the newspaper or Cablevision, the cable television service which owns the daily, will have to pay five dollars a week for full access to Newsday.com. The paper, which caters mainly to readers on Long Island, said it will begin charging for full access to the website from Wednesday. Newsday publisher Terry Jimenez, in a letter to readers, said not all of the content on Newsday.com would go behind a pay wall. Access to the homepage, classifieds, weather, movies, stocks, obituaries, school closings and community programs would remain free. Jimenez also said that some 75 percent of Long Island households already receive the print edition of the newspaper or are Cablevision subscribers. "We are excited about this model because in addition to a unique ability to immediately reach about 75 percent of Long Island households, we believe the hyper-local approach is right for Long Island," Newsday managing editor Debby Krenek said. Like other US newspapers, Newsday has been faced with a steep drop in print advertising revenue, declining circulation and the migration of readers to free news online. Online advertising gains have not kept pace with the decline in print advertising and newspaper owners have been searching for ways to increase revenue, including charging readers to view content online. The Wall Street Journal is currently the only major US newspaper charging for full access to its website but other dailies, including The New York Times, are considering a similar move. News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch has announced plans to begin charging readers online at all of his extensive newspaper holdings but US dailies have been hesitant to do so out of fear it could hurt traffic to their websites. Cablevision purchased Newsday, which has a print circulation of 368,000, from the Tribune Co. last year for 650 million dollars.
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