The financially troubled New York Times is
reportedly considering charging for access to the paper on mobile platforms. Martin Nisenholtz, head of the Times digital operations, said the Times is considering charging subscription fees for access to the paper from mobile devices such as the iPhone.
“Mobile offers a better opportunity for paid content,” Nisenholtz said in his remarks. “For publishers to offer their content for free in the mobile platform forever without getting paid very much money, I don’t think it’s going to be tenable.”
While it is understandable that mainstream media is struggling to come up with revenue opportunities to replace falling ad revenue, I’m not sure that a mobile access subscription is going to be a viable alternative. Consumers have become conditioned to grab their news online where it is free and it will be a hard sell to convince them otherwise. Would you pay to subscribe to the NYT on your phone?
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