Quote of the Day

Some of you guys may not be as ardent media followers as I am, but an interesting bit of news today is that Newsday.com will move to a subscriber model next week, charging $5/week for their content. The quotes in the story kind of amused me…they’re after the jump, along with my thoughts.

Beginning Wednesday, most of Newsday.com content will only be available to subscribers of Optimum Online, Newsday, or those willing to pay for it.

Those who are not customers of Optimum Online or the newspaper – both owned by Bethpage-based Cablevision Systems Corp. – will have to pay a $5 weekly fee. However, nonpaying customers will have access to some of newsday.com’s information, including the home page, school closings, weather, obituaries, classified and entertainment listings. There also will be some limited access to Newsday stories.

“We are excited about this model because in addition to a unique ability to immediately reach about 75 percent of Long Island households, we believe the hyper-local approach is right for Long Island,” said Debby Krenek, Newsday managing editor and senior vice president/digital.

The new strategy comes as newspapers have been scrambling to replace the advertising-based model after years of steep revenue decline. Charging viewers for online content has been debated in the newspaper industry in the past few years.

Jack Myers of Jack Myers Media Business Report, a Manhattan-based economic research firm, said, “In the long term, it’s a zero-sum game. Basically what you are doing is you are shutting off younger audiences from getting access and becoming fans of your content, so it strikes me as a pretty short-term protective measure that will be a great case study for the industry.”

So it makes sense (why do we pay for everything on earth but content?), but here’s the problem..it’s only one site doing it. If every newspaper in the Associated Press did that, then people would have to take notice. But being the first is pretty rough. There is literally nothing on Long Island I would pay $5/week for. I see no reason why that logic would change in a digital age.

That said, where will I go now for my coverage of Zubaz pants, guys named Joey, and teased hair?

[Newsday]

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