The prevailing online business model for newspapers is to provide free access to their Web sites and then generate all of their online revenue through advertising.
Now, one of the prominent exceptions – the Financial Times of London – may be considering changes to its online subscription model.
The Pearson-owned Times typically provides only a limited selection of free full-length articles at FT.com, requiring a $110 annual subscription for access to the rest. But during the last several days, the salmon-colored business-news daily, which has a U.S. print circulation of about 140,000, has been providing free access to most of its site. Columnists, commentary pieces and certain feature stories remain accessible to subscribers only.
The Wall Street Journal, which charges a $99 annual subscription fee for its Web site, has previously offered free access for a day or a week at a time to encourage more readers to subscribe. But the Times hasn't publicized the suddenly widened access at FT.com, which suggests that the move, even if it's temporary, isn't part of a mere promotion.
So what's going on? A Times spokeswoman in New York declined to comment. One possible clue: the Times owns 50% of the British newsweekly The Economist, which last year increased the number of free articles available on its Web site.
