New York Times-Owned Paper Puts Paywall Around Online Content

Telegram.com, the website for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette in Massachusetts, which is owned by the New York Times Company, has now put up a paywall. On Telegram.com, users are granted with a message, which reads:

Telegram.com now asks visitors who are non-subscribers to register or pay to view local news articles. Subscribers to the print edition of the Telegram & Gazette have unlimited access to our website as part of their current subscriptions and simply need to register. Non-subscribers may register to view 10 locally produced articles in a calendar month, purchase a day pass for unlimited access for 24 hours or subscribe.

Even the search function on the site has a paywall. Users can search the past 30 days for free, but are charged for searching through content dating back to 1989. Search results display the headline and a summary for each story, and while the search is free, the cost of viewing the full text is $1.95 per article.

The cost for an online subscription is $14.95 per month. The daypass is a dollar for a day or 5 dollars for 5 days or 10 dollars for 10 days.

Readers won’t have to pay to comment on an article, but they’ll have to pay to view them (as part of the subscription or pass). The comments are considered part of the article.

It will be quite interesting to see how this paywall turns out for the publication, and whether it has any influence over the NYT Company’s decision to erect paywalls around more of its publications.

(HT: SAI)