Newsday has announced that people who are not Optimum Online customers or Newsday customers will have to start paying a $5 weekly fee to access Newsday.com.
Those who are not customers of Optimum Online or the newspaper - both owned by Bethpage-based Cablevision Systems Corp. - will have to pay a $5 weekly fee. However, nonpaying customers will have access to some of newsday.com's information, including the home page, school closings, weather, obituaries, classified and entertainment listings. There also will be some limited access to Newsday stories.
Newsday described the move as one that would create a "pioneering Web model," combining the newspaper's newsgathering services with Cablevision's electronic distribution capabilities. About 75 percent of Long Island households are Newsday home delivery or Cablevision online customers or both, according to Newsday. Optimum Online customers total 2.5 million in the New York area, the paper said.
"We are excited about this model because in addition to a unique ability to immediately reach about 75 percent of Long Island households, we believe the hyper-local approach is right for Long Island," said Debby Krenek, Newsday managing editor and senior vice president/digital.
$5 a week is a lot to charge for online access. Even the Wall Street Journal doesn't charge that much for an annual online subscription. Dvorak says it amounts to $260 a year. Editor & PublishersaysNewsday will "listen" to feedback and may tinker with what content is hidden behind the online newspaper's subsscription wall.