INDenverTimes launch will not go ahead: publication fails to meet subscriber target

Posted by Helena Deards on April 23, 2009 at 5:08 PM

INDenverTimes announced its intention to launch a subscription based news site, following the demise of Denver's Rocky Mountain News - on the condition that it reached 50,000 subscribers April 23rd, which would have been the 150th birthday of the Rocky. Today is that deadline, and as INDT has not reached its goal, the co-founders "will not pursue the original business model past today's self imposed deadline".

Speaking to the Editors Weblog last week, co-founder Kevin Preblud said that the decision would now be based upon a combination of subscribers, users and page view figures - although this still did not throw up what the co-founders considered to be a viable business opportunity. Preblud now, however, insists that they "have confidence in the future of online journalism and will continue to explore alternative business models.

So it would seem that despite the setback all is not lost - a position confirmed by co-founder Steve Foster and business writer David Milstead, who will continue to seek backers for the original business model. "We believe there is money to be made in local journalism by local journalists and that there is a unique opportunity in Denver in wake of the closure of the Rocky Mountain News," they said.

Whilst INDT's subscription based business model seems - so far - to have been unsuccessful, it is heartening to see that the co-founders are willing to continue in the search for a viable business model, or in Foster's case to pursue the original one. With some US newspapers struggling in the economic climate, could the situation in Denver be one that appears more often?

Source: INDT press release