The Sun to put up £2-a-week paywall on 1 August

Following in the footsteps of The Times and Sunday Times, News International's tabloid title The Sun will launch an online paywall from 1 August.

In an announcement today News International said the "new exclusive entertainment package" will be called Sun+.

For £2 a week, users will be able to access a "bundle of products designed to give readers more great content and more ways to view it whenever they want", the press release adds.

"Sun+ will be available across web, phone and tablet devices and will provide access to Premier League clips and other exclusive perks such as great value offers and promotions."

The latest national newspaper website traffic results, reported by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, showed The Sun website had just under 28.6 million unique browsers in March.

The Times paywall went up in July 2010, with the now-closed News of the World following suit in October 2010.

In the press release announcing the imminent Sun paywall, chief executive of NI Group Ltd added that "this move ensures we will be offering a compelling paid-for package across all our titles, delivering great value for news that is worth paying for".

This follows the publisher's "groundbreaking deal with the Premier League in January", which gives News International "exclusive rights to show clips of all 380 Premier League football matches per season on The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times digital platforms", the release adds.

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