The recently-relaunched Times and Sunday Times websites start charging for content today. There is an introductory offer of £1 for 30 days, after that the sites will be £2 a week or £1 a day for those who do not subscribe to the print edition. There is no access beyond the home page for non-subscribers.

The Guardian quoted News International CEO Rebekah Brooks as saying "We have been very pleased with the response from readers since the launch of the new websites in May. The new sites showcase our award-winning journalism in a very visual way, giving readers exclusive content and interactivity so that they can get even more from the news. We believe the new sites offer real value and we look forward to continuing to invest and innovate for readers."

The new sites replace Timesonline.co.uk, which used to be the free online home for content from both papers. The two new websites look more similar to their print counterparts and have a stronger multimedia focus, particular that of the Sunday Times. Many questioned the move to create a separate site for a Sunday paper, which presumably produces less content than the daily paper does, but the company justified the move by saying that the two papers represent two distinct brands.

The Guardian also reported that the Times' iPad edition would continue to be charged separately at £9.99 a month.

Rupert Murdoch, head of News Corp whose subsidiary News International owns the Times and Sunday Times, has been very vocal about his plans to take all his newspapers behind paywalls, believing that free online news was a big mistake. His other UK properties The Sun and the News of the World are expected to follow suit, and presumably his papers in the US and Australia will also. Will the move pay off? The Times expects to lose a large number of its online readers, and has withdrawn from search services such as Google News, and ABCe auditing. But will the papers manage to create a community of loyal readers of a significant size who are prepared to pay?

Source: Guardian