Friday, March 26, 2010
The Times They Are A-Changin' .
"The Times They Are A-Changin'" sang Bob Dylan in 1963. But from June 2010 the song's lyrics should be changed to "The Times They Are A-Charging". The Times and the Sunday Times are to start charging for content online in June. Users will be charged £1 for a day's access and £2 for a week's subscription for access to both papers' websites, publisher News International has announced. The Times and the Sunday Times are the first UK papers to fully charge for digital content. In the latest ABCe traffic figures, Times Online – which includes the Times and Sunday Times – saw its daily users rise 6% to 1.22m, although monthly browsers fell to 20.42m.
So things are really changing within the UK newspaper scene. Former KGB spy Alexander Lebedev has bought the Independent for £1 and he will conduct a review to decide whether to make The Independent free. “There’s no decision as to whether it’s free or not,” a Lebedev spokesman said. “They’ll look at it once the deal is done in May.”
Time will tell how this story unfolds. Alexander Lebedev bought the London Evening Standard and decided to give it away free, so he may very well do the same with the Independent. I think that Rupert Murdoch is very brave trying to charge for online access to his newspaper websites. There are plenty of free newspapers websites for readers to visit and I think surfers will simply go to the other free newspaper websites rather than pay for the Times website. I am not a fan of the Times website and I certainly would not pay for online access. When a newspaper publisher gives away a free paper there is a big cost involved but their website incurs no extra cost at all for each reader who visits. All the publisher has to consider is the concept of "lost revenue". I got cheesed-off with newspapers a long time ago and I do not think I am alone. Therefore newspaper publishers are not losing any revenue from the likes of me and many other people. I think that Rupert Murdoch will change his mind when the cash does not roll in! There is a big reluctance among most internet users to pay for content.
"The Times They Are A-Changin'" sang Bob Dylan in 1963. But from June 2010 the song's lyrics should be changed to "The Times They Are A-Charging". The Times and the Sunday Times are to start charging for content online in June. Users will be charged £1 for a day's access and £2 for a week's subscription for access to both papers' websites, publisher News International has announced. The Times and the Sunday Times are the first UK papers to fully charge for digital content. In the latest ABCe traffic figures, Times Online – which includes the Times and Sunday Times – saw its daily users rise 6% to 1.22m, although monthly browsers fell to 20.42m.
So things are really changing within the UK newspaper scene. Former KGB spy Alexander Lebedev has bought the Independent for £1 and he will conduct a review to decide whether to make The Independent free. “There’s no decision as to whether it’s free or not,” a Lebedev spokesman said. “They’ll look at it once the deal is done in May.”
Time will tell how this story unfolds. Alexander Lebedev bought the London Evening Standard and decided to give it away free, so he may very well do the same with the Independent. I think that Rupert Murdoch is very brave trying to charge for online access to his newspaper websites. There are plenty of free newspapers websites for readers to visit and I think surfers will simply go to the other free newspaper websites rather than pay for the Times website. I am not a fan of the Times website and I certainly would not pay for online access. When a newspaper publisher gives away a free paper there is a big cost involved but their website incurs no extra cost at all for each reader who visits. All the publisher has to consider is the concept of "lost revenue". I got cheesed-off with newspapers a long time ago and I do not think I am alone. Therefore newspaper publishers are not losing any revenue from the likes of me and many other people. I think that Rupert Murdoch will change his mind when the cash does not roll in! There is a big reluctance among most internet users to pay for content.
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