Gannett titles the Tallahassee Democrat in Florida, the Spectrum in Utah, and South Carolina's Greenville News will introduce a range of subscription packages from 1 July
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Three US newspapers will introduce paywalls to their websites later this week as part of subscription trials by parent company Gannett.
The Tallahassee Democrat in Florida, the Spectrum in Utah, and South Carolina's Greenville News will introduce a range of subscription packages from 1 July.
Greenville Online will offer readers three options for access: website, print edition and digital replica for $16.46 a month; online access and e-edition for $14.95; and online-only access for $9.95 a month. Day passes will also be made available. The Democrat will charge the same rates for access and offer day passes for $2. The Spectrum has laid out plans for similar packages , but has not said how much it will charge.
"Content, regardless of the platform, was never 'free'. This new model will require web users to pay for online content, either by selecting one of the subscription offers above, or purchasing a day pass to the GreenvilleOnline.com website. The difference is that now everyone will be paying for it, not just those who bought the print edition," explains an editorial on the Greenville site from publisher Steven R. Brandt and executive editor John S. Pittman .
"Media companies invest millions of dollars each year to provide their users with news and information. We will continue to invest in valuable local news content for consumers to access in any way they want."
Speaking last week at the annual meeting of the Associated Press Sports Editors reported by the Spectrum , Ted Power, vice president of Gannett West Group, said he was not certain the paywall experiment would succeed.
Power said he the Spectrum had been chosen because of its size and isolation from competition from television stations or other local newspapers.
Gannett, which owns Newsquest in the UK, is the latest publisher newspaper group in the US to experiment with paid access to news online , following new paywalls for local US newspapers owned by Dow Jones in 2010.
