The New York Times online subscription service looms

The New York Times, who's May announcement of an upcoming subscription service faded over the summer, is poised to start charging for some content as of September 19. This week, the Times began posting explanations on its own website detailing the package, dubbed TimesSelect, and offering twenty percent off the $50 price tag to those who sign-up before the launch date. Subscribers will have access to the Times respected op-ed columnists, 12 feature writers from the Business, NewYork/Region and Sports sections as well as two additional columnists from The International Herald Tribune and access to 100 archived articles per month. The package also includes early access to articles in the Sunday Times, personalized email alerts and a tool that allows readers to organize articles from all over the Web for future consultation.

Reactions to the service have been mixed. Some feel that online subscription experiments are necessary for papers looking to earn more revenue from the Web. Others, especially proponents of free online content and bloggers who regularly comment on the Times' op-eds, have criticized the move and feel that the paper's online traffic will decrease considerably. Only time will tell, but the failure or success of TimesSelect could determine the failure or success of online newspaper subscriptions.

Source: New York Times