Times websites to start charging from June

Hurray!

As a daily user of Google News it means I will not be able to read the Rupert Murdoch view of the world. Oh dear, never mind!

By BidAuto on 26 Mar 2010

"Brave experiment.."

..or the roar of a dinosaur who doesn't really 'get' the internet?

It'll be interesting to see how this pans out but I suspect it'll not go the way Murdoch wants it to go. I hope it doesn't, anyway.

By Mr_Flynn on 26 Mar 2010

As Mr_Flynn says, it will be interesting to see. It'll either flop and the number of visitors will slump drastically, or it'll turn out to be a viable business and everyone else will jump on board. Hopefully they will at least get rid of all their pop-out adverts (although PC Pro could do with getting rid of theirs that cover the article text until clicked on and opened - I digress...)

Although the Google indexing issue appeared to show that they didn't "get" the internet, by not realising it was simply an additional link into their site rather than a rip-off of their content, they clearly understand business.

However, the fact that the BBC is unlikely to start charging licence payers more money to access its online content must be a factor. Is the Times's news really worth paying £100/year over the BBC's?

By halsteadk on 26 Mar 2010

Soon to follow..

Rupert's campaign to have "pirate" news websites closed, where evil journalists publish information without charging (ie. paying him), devaluing the price of news.

Tell someone something now! Be a "news pirate" today!

By cheysuli on 26 Mar 2010

Once again we have a breach of the Trades Descriptions Act by calling Murdoch's output "quality journalism".

No doubt some people with more money than sense will pay but hopefully most won't and the whole enterprise will collapse as it deserves too.

The web was built on the idea of sharing information, and not for the benefit of grasping old men who still think they can control information!

By omnisvalidus on 26 Mar 2010

The great thing about the new on the Internet is that I can read only what is of any interest for me and as much as I have time for. That's why I don't buy newspapers. To pay a full price of a paper just for the privilege of reading one or two articles is hardly alluring.
But WE know it already and HE doesn't give a monkey so I've just realised that this comment is completely unnecessary :)

By Josefov on 26 Mar 2010

Price of paper?

Once again the electronic pricing bears no resemblance to the cost of distribution & materials.
Although the weekly subscription is getting something like reasonable - still too much for the Murdoch press, in my mind though

By greemble on 26 Mar 2010

Made me giggle....

...as if anyone is going to pay £1 per day to access Times Online when all the news they carry is available free elsewhere. Murdoch has truly lost the plot!

By everton2004 on 26 Mar 2010

see ya

Times pay wall. Hmmmm let me see: Have you READ the Times or Sunday Times recently? Quality of content has literally fallen off a cliff in the last 5 years. Great time to start charging. My FT online sub including ePaper costs less despite its unique content and £2 cover price, and BBC News will always be free. The distinctly 20th Century Mr Murdoch's lack of use of the internet (or even email till recently) has finally destroyed this once great newspaper. Hopefully he'll sell it. Times Knights required!

By gavmeister on 26 Mar 2010

Format Change

In my opinion the internet experience on a PC is not terribly good for reading longer articles (cue iPad!) and summary news is well covered by the BBC and the like. However for eBook or similar experience I would pay for a quality newspaper (i.e. Not anything Murdoch).

By milliganp on 27 Mar 2010

They plan for The Sun to start charging?

"We do believe we have unique content and people will pay for quality journalism”

So why would people pay to read The Sun? Ah, it's the unique content - nowhere else on the internet can you find pictures of tits.

By Mark_Thompson on 27 Mar 2010

BreakthePaywall

BreakthePaywall! is a free add-on for Internet Explorer (Firefox coming soon!) that simplifies using the various methods for circumventing website paywall restrictions.

By BreakthePaywall on 9 Apr 2010