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Online News Service Launched for Big Papers (Dinosaur Media Death Watch)
Reuters ^ | January 25, 2011 | Jennifer Saba

Posted on 01/30/2011 1:11:40 PM PST by lbryce

A personalized news service funded by New York Times Co., Washington Post Co, and Gannett Co launched on Tuesday in an attempt to get readers to pay for online news.

Ongo, which received $12 million in funding from the three newspaper publishers, delivers news from a variety of sources starting at $7 a month.

The basic subscription plan includes articles from the Associated Press, the Washington Post, USA Today and select stories from the New York Times and Pearson PLC's Financial Times. Users can add titles, such as the Guardian and the Detroit Free Press, for 99 cents a month for each additional source.

Ongo's layout hews closely to print with stories presented in several columns, although it is accessed through web browsers, smartphones and tablets.

Many newspapers are experimenting with models that require some form of payment to access online news as an additional revenue stream to advertising. Newspaper online advertising represents only 11 percent of total newspaper advertising, according to the latest figures from the Newspaper Association of America.

For instance, the New York Times plans to launch a metered pay system, requiring readers to pay after accessing a certain number of articles, during the first quarter. A.H. Belo's Dallas Morning News is also gearing up to roll out a paid news site.

Ongo, based in Cupertino, Calif., is founded by Alex Kazim, a former president of Skype and eBay executive who worked on PayPal.

New York Times shares were down 2 percent at $10.42 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Gannett shares were down 0.5 percent at $14.79, while Washington Post shares were up 1.4 percent at $445.54.

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: dinosaurmediawatch; msmdeathknell; newyorktimes
Big Papers?? lol. Nothing "big" about them except for the financial losses. Something got lost in translation. Seems the Roto-Rooters author, Jennifer Saba, could brush up on her English language skills.

For instance, the New York Times plans to launch a metered pay system, requiring readers to pay after accessing a certain number of articles, during the first quarter. A.H. Belo's Dallas Morning News is also gearing up to roll out a paid news site.

The "Big Papers" are rolling out all sorts of pay plan schemes but it's all just a re-shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic.

1 posted on 01/30/2011 1:11:45 PM PST by lbryce
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To: lbryce

$7 a month? Sorry, donating to FR is a better option.


2 posted on 01/30/2011 1:12:54 PM PST by Drango (NO-vember is payback for April 15th)
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To: lbryce

We have something called TV...They should have invested in TV stations...instead of keeping their toilet paper business.


3 posted on 01/30/2011 1:14:44 PM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: lbryce

There is no way on Gods green Earth that I am paying to read the Dallas Mourning Snooze on the internet


4 posted on 01/30/2011 1:16:08 PM PST by GeronL (http://www.stink-eye.net/forum/index.php)
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To: Sacajaweau

TV commercial running now for the NY slime has a young person speaking directly to the camera, “ By subscribing to the NY times you are recieving undebatedly the best journalists in the country. undebatedly! your only as good as your team which means your so called journalists suck because your broke!


5 posted on 01/30/2011 1:20:07 PM PST by ronnie raygun (V.........................................)
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To: lbryce; abb
Ongo, which received $12 million in funding from the three newspaper publishers, delivers news from a variety of sources starting at $7 a month.

... an investment which should pay out in about three or four hundred years if the newsers are somehow still around at that time.


Abb,

Your buddies are rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic again ping.

6 posted on 01/30/2011 1:20:46 PM PST by Zakeet (Always trust in the five G's: God, Gold, Guns, Grub, and the Government screwing up)
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To: GeronL

Aside from fish wrap and birdcage liner, the only two useful functions that a newspaper has is the crossword and something to hide behind on the morning commute.

If the NYT folded their operations and only kept the crossword editor on staff, they would be in the black in 6 months. And they can operate out of the Starbucks on 42nd street.


7 posted on 01/30/2011 1:21:58 PM PST by EQAndyBuzz ( Happy Freeping New Year)
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To: lbryce
My local fishwrap keeps calling with a great ‘deal’. The next call will probably be an offer of ‘free’. My answer is, and will always be the same. The paper is an exercise in deja vu...because I've already seen it on FR.
8 posted on 01/30/2011 1:28:17 PM PST by JPG (Work for conservative change like your country depended on it.)
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To: EQAndyBuzz

Right. That would be the only part of the company still making a bit of a profit, lol


9 posted on 01/30/2011 1:29:26 PM PST by GeronL (http://www.stink-eye.net/forum/index.php)
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To: EQAndyBuzz

Right. That would be the only part of the company still making a bit of a profit, lol


10 posted on 01/30/2011 1:29:33 PM PST by GeronL (http://www.stink-eye.net/forum/index.php)
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To: lbryce

———Associated Press, the Washington Post, USA Today and select stories from the New York Times and Pearson PLC’s Financial Times.———

We have learned on Free Republic that the best reporting on American news comes from a select few British newspapers


11 posted on 01/30/2011 1:43:13 PM PST by bert (K.E. N.P. N.C. D.E. +12 .....( History is a process, not an event ))
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To: lbryce

Good luck with that pay plan! There’s $12 million down the crapper.


12 posted on 01/30/2011 1:43:53 PM PST by DaxtonBrown (HARRY: Money Mob & Influence (See my Expose on Reid on amazon.com written by me!))
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To: JPG

7 bucks a month to hear from all the communist front groups?? I used to get that for 25 cents a copy and didn’t pay any attention to it then.


13 posted on 01/30/2011 1:44:24 PM PST by Waco (From Seward to Sarah)
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To: lbryce

Why in Gods green earth would I want to pay 7 bucks a month when I can got to other sources and get it free and get something more than ruling class lies.


14 posted on 01/30/2011 4:01:00 PM PST by bilhosty (Don' t tax people tax newsprint)
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To: lbryce

Why in Gods green earth would I want to pay 7 bucks a month when I can got to other sources and get it free and get something more than ruling class lies.


15 posted on 01/30/2011 4:01:00 PM PST by bilhosty (Don' t tax people tax newsprint)
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To: lbryce

Why in Gods green earth would I want to pay 7 bucks a month when I can got to other sources and get it free and get something more than ruling class lies.


16 posted on 01/30/2011 4:01:11 PM PST by bilhosty (Don' t tax people tax newsprint)
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To: lbryce

“The basic subscription plan includes articles from the Associated Press, the Washington Post, USA Today and select stories from the New York Times.”


But I don’t WANT articles from these guys, or Reuters either. I “pay” (donate) more than $7/month to FR now.


17 posted on 01/30/2011 4:02:27 PM PST by RCFlyer
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To: lbryce

Okay, who wants to start a death pool for this plan? I swear, it’s like the management and the boards at these places have absolutely no long-term memory whatsoever.


18 posted on 01/30/2011 4:10:12 PM PST by RichInOC (No! BAD Rich! (What'd I say?))
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To: lbryce

For $7.00/month, “the basic subscription plan includes articles from the Associated Press, the Washington Post, USA Today and select stories from the New York Times ...”

OMG! That is just so hilarious! This is the ultimate subscription plan for a smorgasbord of leftest lies! Man, and they expect thinking people will PAY to read these lies??? Delusional, simply delusional.


19 posted on 01/30/2011 7:28:19 PM PST by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Made from the right stuff!)
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