By Kevin McCauley
The New York Times will charge online readers $15 a month for access to its news and features, the paper announced today.
Starting March 28, readers of more than 20 articles a month will be presented with three options: $15 for a month of access and mobile phone app, $20 for a web/iPad combo or $35 for the works.
Home delivery subscribers will not be charged for digital offerings. Readers, who are delivered to the Times from search engines, blogs and social media, will get access, even if they surpassed their monthly story limit.
The Times believes its plan is designed to generate revenues from its heaviest users, while allowing casual readers to access the site.
In a letter posted on nytimes.com, Arthur Sulzberger, publisher, calls the paywall “an important step that we hope you will see as an investment in the Times, one that will strengthen our ability to provide high-quality journalism to readers around the world.”
Sulzberger believes the challenge is to price the NYT “without walling ourselves off from the global network, to make sure we continue to engage with the widest possible audience.”
The home page of nytimes.com and each section front will remain free to browse.
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