The New York Times has announced it will start charging readers for access to its online content from next year, adopting the subscription model used by the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal whereby a limited number of articles can be viewed for free, after which users must register and pay.

It's the first mainstream daily newspaper to confirm when a virtual pay wall will be constructed around its website, though, as previously reported, we know that Rupert Murdoch's UK newspapers - The Sun and The Times - are currently working towards making their respective websites subscription-based.

The newspaper industry is dabbling with the subscription model in the online domain once again as they continue to struggle to turn the massive amounts of traffic their websites receive into tangible income. Most newspapers' online advertising sales remain insufficient to fund their operations long term, mainly because the likes of Google have capitalised such a big portion of the online ads market.

NY Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr said this week:

"This announcement allows us to begin the thought process that's going to answer so many of the questions that we all care about. We can't get this halfway right or three-quarters of the way right. We have to get this really, really right".

In related news, The Guardian - despite being the UK newspaper least keen on charging for its online content - has admitted it is considering charging for access to its digital media news site PaidContent, although such considerations are seemingly part of a wider review about the future development of the US-based service. The Guardian recently revealed if paid £4 million to buy PaidContent last year, quite a lot less than what had been rumoured when the acquisition took place in 2008.

Story – CMU Network