NYTimes to stop charging for Times

["Ann Okerson" <ann.okerson@yale.edu>]

September 18, 2007

Times to Stop Charging for Parts of Its Web Site
By RICHARD PEREZ-PENA

The New York Times will stop charging for access to parts of its Web
site, effective at midnight Tuesday night.

The move comes two years to the day after The Times began the
subscription program, TimesSelect, which has charged $49.95 a year, or
$7.95 a month, for online access to the work of its columnists and to
the newspaper's archives. TimesSelect has been free to print
subscribers to The Times and to some students and educators.

In addition to opening the entire site to all readers, The Times will
also make available its archives from 1987 to the present without
charge, as well as those from 1851 to 1922, which are in the public
domain. There will be charges for some material from the period 1923
to 1986, and some will be free.

The Times said the project had met expectations, drawing 227,000
paying subscribers -- out of 787,000 over all -- and generating about
$10 million a year in revenue.

"But our projections for growth on that paid subscriber base were low,
compared to the growth of online advertising," said Vivian L.
Schiller, senior vice president and general manager of the site,
NYTimes.com.

Copyright 2007 New York Times