Rumor: NY "TimesSelect" could soon be FREE again

[welshTerrier2]

source: http://www.nypost.com/seven/08072007/business/timesselect_content_freed_business_holly_m__sanders.htm

TimesSelect Content Freed

The New York Times is poised to stop charging readers for online access to its Op-Ed columnists and other content, The Post has learned.

After much internal debate, Times executives - including publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. - made the decision to end the subscription-only TimesSelect service but have yet to make an official announcement, according to a source briefed on the matter. <skip>

While other online publications were abandoning subscriptions, the Times took the opposite approach in 2005 and began charging for access to well-known writers, including Maureen Dowd, Frank Rich and Thomas L. Friedman (and Paul Krugman).

The decision, which also walled off access to archives and other content, was controversial almost from the start, with some of the paper's own columnists complaining that it limited their Web readership.

[Jack Rabbit]

1. The Times just wants to put the Wealthy Frenchman out of business

We can all see that, can't we?

PS: Thank you, Wealthy Frenchman and others, for seeing us through this long dark night.

[AZBlue]

2. Ooooohhh...now there's something to celebrate!

[Quakerfriend]

3. Funny, but I no longer miss reading the NYT.

After having read it religiously for years, I stopped when they started charging on-line.

I was once so addicted that I was willing to buy a 2-day old copy of the weekly for $7! I was traveling in Mexico and des
They have long since been replaced by the blogs.

[zehnkatzen]

4. Already have a discussion open on this one...

...here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2944765

[saltpoint]

5. Hard to find a newspaper columnist I enjoy more than Frank Rich.

Bob Herbert is no slouch, either.

If those two are free-to-view again, our household will be a happier place.

[pnwmom]

6. And don't forget Paul Krugman. n/t

[saltpoint]

7. You're right. Krugman is A-OK.

Good catch.

[mcscajun]

8. Perhaps not...

'NYT' Not Confirming End of TimesSelect Pay Status -- But Borrell Thinks They Should

By E&P Staff

Published: August 07, 2007 2:30 PM ET

NEW YORK Despite an alleged scoop in the New York Post today, The New York Times is not confirming -- or for that matter, denying -- that it will end the pay provision for its closely-watched TimesSelect service.

New York Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis declined to confirm or deny that TimesSelect was being yanked, but did point out that it has steadily grown since it launched in September 2005.

Still, she would not say what the future of TimesSelect would be: “We continue to evaluate the best approach for NYTimes.com.” When asked if the service would be altered in any way, she said “that I can’t answer. We are certainly doing a lot to make it better.”

The Post had reported: "After much internal debate, Times executives -- including publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. -- made the decision to end the subscription-only TimesSelect service but have yet to make an official announcement, according to a source briefed on the matter."

The rest of the story here.