News International set to charge for access to websites
News International is set to introduce charges for access to The Times and the Sunday Times newspaper websites in a move which many in the industry have been predicting for some time. Users will be charged one pound a day or two pound a week for access to the two websites and it is almost certain that other websites will follow suit. As a consequence we could see a significant increase in the cost of access to news and current affairs information on the Internet.
Over the last decade, as the Internet has become more and more integral to everyday life, there has been a significant drop-off in sales of physical newspapers which has seen companies such as News International looking to new income streams and new income ideas. While this new strategy has the potential to bring in millions upon millions of pounds a year for the company, it is still a very high-risk strategy because ultimately there will always be information available free of charge on the Internet.
Many other companies are known to be monitoring the situation very carefully and at the first sign of success we are likely to see a strong flow of similar moves in the industry.
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