Posted on 02/26/2009 3:59:11 PM PST by abb
Cablevision Systems Corp plans to charge online readers of its Newsday newspaper, a move that would make it one of the first large U.S. papers to reverse a trend toward free Web readership.
Newsday, which covers the New York suburb of Long Island, was bought by Cablevision in a $650 million deal last May that was widely criticized on Wall Street as a puzzling move into a troubled newspaper market.
Cablevision had to write down Newsday's value by $402 million on Thursday, pushing its fourth-quarter results to a loss, as U.S. print advertising sales and circulation have dropped with more readers seeking free news on the Web.
But Cablevision Chief Operating officer Tom Rutledge said the cable TV company was aware of the difficulties faced by the traditional newspaper business.
"Our goal was and is to use our electronic network assets and subscriber relationships to transform the way news is distributed," he said on a conference call with analysts.
"We plan to end the distribution of free Web content," he added.
Several large U.S. newspaper groups have had to lay off staff, slash dividends and scramble for debt refinancing. Others have filed for bankruptcy protection, including Newsday's former parent Tribune Co, Journal Register Co and Philadelphia Newspapers LLC.
In the past, several major newspapers including The New York Times charged readers for full or partial access to stories on their websites.
But in recent years, news content has become widely available for free, forcing many papers to give up small subscription revenue in the hope of gaining better ad sales by attracting more readers.
Such moves have not made up for the loss of print advertising and circulation revenue. Some major business papers like the Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal have been able to maintain subscription fees.
snip
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Sure I’ll pay...NOT...
http://www.contentbridges.com/2009/02/paid-newsday-site-whats-4-12-minutes-worth-to-you.html
Paid Newsday Site? What’s 4 1/2 Minutes Worth to You?
ping
I'm sure all the Newsday reporters will land on their feet - in the Obama administration.
The noose tightens ... What’s newsday?
Newsday Moves to Drive Self Out of Business!
IIRC, at one time they had two editions, one for NYC and the Long Island edition.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsday
I dont look at this rags website now and its free
So they both die together, a twofer?
Many sites have tried and failed at this. I suspect they’ll keep trying until somebody makes it work.
With so much free news on the internet, it’s hard to anybody to charge for access.
Unless it becomes very hard to get news on line without a subscription, this won’t work.
A lot of what is in the on line papers is simply wire service news stories. Anybody had the experience of going to several on line papers for a story on a certain subject, and read it word for word off of each site?
Who goes to Newsday? What is Newsday? Who cares about Newsday?
This is a mutation. Some mutations wither while some mutate further and wither or survive.
The move is part of the evolution of local news purveying.
If advertisers and local governments and institutions needing a way to convey their messages get involved as mutations, a viable entity might result. The need to get out the local word is strong among many diverse groups and entities. The need for local companies to convey a message of product availability is great.
These two extraneous forces acting on and forming the website might develop into a successful entity.
But is Newsday that distribution system? Ken Doctor says the average unique visitor spends only 4 1/2 minutes per month on their site. Apparently what they have to say isn’t very compelling.
The writedown was for $402 mil. That means the residual value is only $220 mil.
OUCH!
Haha.
lol
Good luck with that one bud.
The business plan of these mentally ill mediots is truly insane.
There is no real market for their propaganda in the fishwrap system. So they will transfer the same bs to the internet and hope to make a profit.
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