So can Murdock really make it pay. In June it will cost £1 a day or £2 a week to get access to the Times and Sunday Times new websites, News Corp said in a statement.
Subscribers to the print versions will get free access to the websites. The Times newspaper costs £1 on weekdays and £1.50 on Saturdays, and The Sunday Times costs £2.
James Harding, editor of The Times, told the BBC that the move was a "big risk, but less of a risk than throwing our journalism away, while Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of News Corp, believes people will pay for good journalism.
It is a massive risk. While there is so much free news out there will people really pay to subscribe. They will have to make it radically improved in terms of web presentation so I wait with baited breath to see what the new sites look like.
Someone had to take the risk and perhaps Murdoch is the one most equipped to give it a try.
News Corp's Wall Street Journal already charges for online content but it is in a niche market. If The Telegraph online remains free will people pay for Times? Difficult but Murdoch is not daft - he is trialing the service with titles that have been propped up financially for years so there is less to lose than say with The Sun which has the best visitor figures for News International.
The latest ABC traffic figures for Times Online - which includes the Times and Sunday Times - saw daily user figures rise 6% to 1.22m, while monthly browsers fell to 20.42m.
Assuming that only 5% of daily users convert to the paywall system - a standard metric for paywalls - that would bring in £1.83m if they each buy a £1 daily pass. At a 10% conversion, it would net £3.66m per month for the two papers. If more chose the weekly pass, the revenues would be lower.
The move follows Murdoch's statement in August last year that that he would introduce charges for all his newspapers, saying that News Corp wanted to prevent readers moving to free sites by making its content better and differentiated from other publishers.
Well the race is underway - who will follow and will it be a success. Who knows but the future of print journalism is at stake. Will the man most journalists once reviled turn out to be the saviour of their sector!!
www.pressgenerator.com
Friday, 26 March 2010
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
House-giveaway and press generator
What do you do when you want to give away your lifestyle - call www.pressgenerwww.pressgenerator.comator.com
Check out our press release which is working its way around the web! The property crash has forced a London man to put his luxury pad up for grabs in a village fete-style competition, as he prepares to move down under. (www.house-giveaway.com)
Australia-bound IT consultant Adam Trutwein is offering a once-in-a-lifetime chance for someone to live an up-market London lifestyle for free, by offering up almost everything he owns as a prize in a ‘how many sweets in the jar’ competition! www.house-giveaway.com.
Up for grabs for a lucky winner in the £20 per entry competition, is a luxury £375,000 fully furnished, two-bedroom apartment in London’s trendy Islington. The apartment, which would be mortgage-free for the winner, is for keeps and is packed full of high-spec goodies such as a 50" HD plasma TV and hand-made Italian furniture.
The winner literally won’t have to spend a penny as full running costs and bills are thrown in for a year – from Sky HD subscriptions and utility bills, to groceries - and there’s even the service of a cleaner!
Adam, 26, explained that he came up with the quirky life-changing package idea after deciding to leave his top city-based IT career behind to follow his own dreams of a fresh start in Australia.
He said: “Making the move to Australia is a fresh start for me and I thought it would be a great idea to offer someone the opportunity to change their life too, particularly as everything seems to be a struggle at the moment.
“Offering up everything I own in a competition provides a wonderful opportunity for someone to kick-start their life in London – be that a new career, a year off having fun, helping out your son/daughter or simply getting that crucial first step on the property ladder.
"The package really does include everything – there’s even a free pass for underground and bus travel thrown in for a year, £200 a week for 1 year in cash and the use of an on-site gym.”
Adam has put the competition in the hands of London solicitors Turbervilles who hold the sealed jar of sweets. All the cash raised will be held by Barclays Bank until the winner is announced.
A total of 30,000 tickets are up for grabs at £20 a go through his website www.house-giveaway.com The closing date will be when the 30,000 tickets are sold or 30th July 2010, whichever comes first.
Adam, originally from Gillingham, added: “The chance of winning this competition far outweigh the odds of winner the national lottery!”
Full details and competition rules can be found online at www.house-giveaway.com
GIVEAWAY FACTFILE
A two-bedroom luxury apartment in London’s trendy Islington worth over £375,000!
A 50’’ HD plasma TV
Fully furnished to a high standard
Free food for a year
All utility bills, service charges and ground rent paid for a year
Services of a cleaner for a year
A year’s free internet, telephone and Sky HD TV subscription
Council tax and TV licence paid for a year
£10,400 in cash
The free use of communal gym and Japanese gardens
A year’s underground and bus travel pass
Adam can be contacted for interview by email at adam.trutwein@mac.com or by mobile phone on 07968759649 or go to www.house-giveaway.com.
Check out our press release which is working its way around the web! The property crash has forced a London man to put his luxury pad up for grabs in a village fete-style competition, as he prepares to move down under. (www.house-giveaway.com)
Australia-bound IT consultant Adam Trutwein is offering a once-in-a-lifetime chance for someone to live an up-market London lifestyle for free, by offering up almost everything he owns as a prize in a ‘how many sweets in the jar’ competition! www.house-giveaway.com.
Up for grabs for a lucky winner in the £20 per entry competition, is a luxury £375,000 fully furnished, two-bedroom apartment in London’s trendy Islington. The apartment, which would be mortgage-free for the winner, is for keeps and is packed full of high-spec goodies such as a 50" HD plasma TV and hand-made Italian furniture.
The winner literally won’t have to spend a penny as full running costs and bills are thrown in for a year – from Sky HD subscriptions and utility bills, to groceries - and there’s even the service of a cleaner!
Adam, 26, explained that he came up with the quirky life-changing package idea after deciding to leave his top city-based IT career behind to follow his own dreams of a fresh start in Australia.
He said: “Making the move to Australia is a fresh start for me and I thought it would be a great idea to offer someone the opportunity to change their life too, particularly as everything seems to be a struggle at the moment.
“Offering up everything I own in a competition provides a wonderful opportunity for someone to kick-start their life in London – be that a new career, a year off having fun, helping out your son/daughter or simply getting that crucial first step on the property ladder.
"The package really does include everything – there’s even a free pass for underground and bus travel thrown in for a year, £200 a week for 1 year in cash and the use of an on-site gym.”
Adam has put the competition in the hands of London solicitors Turbervilles who hold the sealed jar of sweets. All the cash raised will be held by Barclays Bank until the winner is announced.
A total of 30,000 tickets are up for grabs at £20 a go through his website www.house-giveaway.com The closing date will be when the 30,000 tickets are sold or 30th July 2010, whichever comes first.
Adam, originally from Gillingham, added: “The chance of winning this competition far outweigh the odds of winner the national lottery!”
Full details and competition rules can be found online at www.house-giveaway.com
GIVEAWAY FACTFILE
A two-bedroom luxury apartment in London’s trendy Islington worth over £375,000!
A 50’’ HD plasma TV
Fully furnished to a high standard
Free food for a year
All utility bills, service charges and ground rent paid for a year
Services of a cleaner for a year
A year’s free internet, telephone and Sky HD TV subscription
Council tax and TV licence paid for a year
£10,400 in cash
The free use of communal gym and Japanese gardens
A year’s underground and bus travel pass
Adam can be contacted for interview by email at adam.trutwein@mac.com or by mobile phone on 07968759649 or go to www.house-giveaway.com.
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