Times Paywall In Questionable 'Success' 214
takowl writes "It's been a few months since The Times newspaper in the UK (part of the Murdoch stable) hid its online stories behind a paywall. The media watched eagerly to see if people would pay for news online. Now The Times has uncovered its first results: some 105,000 have coughed up online, and another 100,000 print subscribers have access. Naturally, the paper is keen to promote this as a success: some people are willing to pay. The BBC's technology correspondent, on the other hand, reckons: 'it's safe to assume that Times Newspapers has yet to achieve the same revenues from its paywall experiment that were available when its website was free.' Will online subscribers help the Times survive? Will other papers follow its lead?"
Terry Jones burns Times paywall at Ground Zero (Score:5, Funny)
Terry Jones has called off his plans to burn a copy of The Times [newstechnica.com] at Ground Zero tomorrow, after the paywall caught alight for half an hour on Friday afternoon.
Jones had planned to burn The Times because, he claimed, Rupert Murdoch would not rest until he had paywalled all of Google, including the remarkably lucrative Monty Python channel on YouTube. However, he was "rethinking" his plans after approximately everyone in the whole world suggested that just because it was legal might not actually make it a very good idea.
"We have made a deal with the thirty-three journalists still trapped down in the newspaper," he said. "They will come out and Caitlin Moran will publicly recant her idiot piece from a few months ago about what an excellent idea the paywall was and how enormously pleased she was to be stuck behind it. Oh, didn't you read that?"
The journalists have been trapped down the shaft since the first of July, and are being dribbled readers through a straw to keep them alive and focused and make them think there's a point to being there.
"Of course, failing a recantation there will be a paywall conflagration that reaches the skies. All those lovely theoretical readers disappearing in a cloud of soot and cement dust! But I'm sure it'll hardly be noticed and no-one will be upset."
The "newspaper" was an ancient form of information distribution using cellulose pulp from crunched-up trees. It was popular in the early days of Google, when users would send written requests to the company enclosing a stamped self-addressed envelope and receive a reading list to take to their library, with an advertising flyer also enclosed.
Re:Donate button? (Score:3, Funny)
Yes because there is a history of those with a lot of money being prepared to give any of it away
Re:No longer relevant (Score:3, Funny)
If they are up to 52, it must be a winning formula.
Re:Since it's a Murdoch holding.... (Score:3, Funny)
I dunno, I used to read Jeremy Clarkson's column...
Re:Another question (Score:1, Funny)
Homer solved this problem
Homer: Uh, Milhouse saw the elephant twice and rode him once,
right?
Mrs. Van Houten: Yes, but we paid you $4.
Homer: Well, that was under our old price structure. Under
our new price structure, your bill comes to a total of
$700. Now, you've already paid me $4, so that's just
$696 more that you owe me.
Mr. Van Houten: Get off our property.
"Bart Gets an Elephant" The Simpsons
Re:BBC vs Murdoch (Score:5, Funny)
He has a mailing list of 105,000 gullible customers, who will pay money when they can get a superior product for free elsewhere.
That list alone must have some value!
Phillip.