The Sunday Times is to launch a website which will charge
readers for looking at content.
The details do not appear to have been finalised, but the move
follows publisher Rupert Murdoch's public statement a few weeks ago
that
paid-for content may be the way forward for the web.
The Media Guardian reported that the site could launch within
three months. Murdoch has said that readers can expect to see a
change within 12 months.
Readers who subscribe to the paper or have it delivered would
not have to pay, but Murdoch has said that the advertising revenue
that is leaving newspapers needs to be made up for somehow.
He predicts it will take about two years for web revenue to make
up for print losses, saying, "We are looking at lots of things,
models for charging, mobile readers. There are lots of ways we can
make money from content over and above the advertising market."
