Would you pay to visit sites?

[Scottish Business Owner]

I read recently that Rupert Murdoch intends to charge people for reading his newspapers online "within 12 months". It kinds of brings up an interesting debate about whether people are prepared to pay for this.

Would you be willing to subscribe and pay for newspaper content. What's your views either way and please take a moment to take our little poll

 

[Mike Lewis]

,

If I understood it right, the plan was not to charge people for reading on line, but for downloading copies of newspapers to read in e-book readers and other hand-held devices. (If I'm wrong about that, by all means correct me.)

Personally, I would be happy to pay if I could receive my copy of the Herald on my Amazon Kindle each morning. I receive the paper (in printed form) six days a week, and I immediatley put entire sections of into the recycle bucket without even a glance. I have no interest in the 8-page sports section, or the magazine-style leisure and fashion supplements; yet they still have to be printed, transported to my newsagent, and delivered to my house every day.

It's already possible to subscribe to most British newspapers for delivery to your web browser, but I don't want to have to sit at my computer during breakfast, and it would be no use for reading on the bus. If I could get it on my Kindle (or similar device),I'd be happy to pay.

Mike

 

[Boxby]

I think this is the business model for the future of the internet. I think that we will all need to get used to the idea of paying for reliable authorative information.

 

[stuarty]

I already pay a licence fee for the BBC and I get all the news I'd ever need accurately from the BBC website.

PPV websites come and go all the time. Other sites will continue to provide news for free so why pay for the the privilige on a PPV site.

 

[taxlab_accountants]

I sync my iPod touch 7AM every morning to get the fresh content on BBC Reader, Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg. Its a great subsitute to the old paper method and environmentally friendly too! Its fantastic for the bus! Well recommended.

Inty

 

[Canary Dwarf]

Charging for content is an impossible business model, and newspapers were so scared of the internet they despised it, rejected it, and now it is eating them.

My guess is Murdoch has put this out in the open to gauge public response.

The internet is the best thing that could happen to a news distributor. It is an ideal medium. But they must move away from their old business model.

They need to find different things to charge for. They will be able to charge, but not for news, through online services, comms and search.

The ethos of the guardion is reach then revenue, they have adopted the internet as a distribution mechanism, it grows as print declines, then they will make a move on revenue.

A lot of newspapers thought they were killing off sales by investing in websites, but what they didn't realise was it was happening anyway and they should have been concentrating on building an online brand for the future.

Most big news companies have got it right now on the internet, but the trouble is the legacy of print is costing them so much.

 

[MBS]

I would pay, but at a very small rate if i am to be honest. But as mentioned previously, BBC news covers just about everything.

 

[Eagle]

I winced when I read the title of this topic but it actually makes sense - if the quality is kept high.

 

[Adventurelife]

Never for news as it will always come via so many channels , bbc website, radio etc. I used to buy the scotsman and herald and scotland on sunday or sunday times but stopped a few years back when web news got up to speed. Rare day I buy a paper now.

Peter