New Ongo online news
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews ... news-arena
On the face of it, compared to the "Murdoch" idea of paying an individual newspaper a monthly fee, this seems quite an attractive deal to me. Not that I intend to fork out $6.99 a month when I can still get it for free, but those with a need for quality news may well find it an attractive source. the list of contributors is certainly impressive.
The Washington Post
The New York Times
USA Today
Financial Times
Guardian
The Boston Globe
The Miami Herald
Slate (on line magazine owned by Washington post)
Associated Press (US news agency).
Some other newspapers can be added to the list for an additional 99 cents a paper.
US papers include Charlotte Observer, Cincinnati Enquirer, Anchorage Daily News, Detroit Free Press, Kansas City Star, Des Moines Register and Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
It will be interesting to see how this goes. The Financial Times has been charging readers for most of its news for quite a while now.
I think this may well be of more interest for mobile readers (phones & pads) rather than static readers. The mobile users are pretty used to paying for services that they require & are probably happier to 'receive' news rather than search for it.
I still believe that there is quite a resistance to 'pay for' news by computer internet users. They have been bought up on getting for free things like movies, books & music that in 'real life' you would have to pay for & 'searching' for information (for free) is second nature to many.
Although this 'banding together' is a new idea I am still not sure that the traditional media 'gets' the internet at all. This service is financed purely by the subscription charges, no advertising revenue at all. Compare that to the highly successful Google. No subscription charges, massive advertising revenue.
