paid content

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Netflix Now Has More Subscribers Than HBO

It also introduces new $12 'family plan'

(Newser) - Qwikster? What's a Qwikster? Netflix appears to have solidly put that debacle behind it, posting a strong earnings report yesterday that included this interesting tidbit: Netflix now has 29.17 million paid subscribers. That, Forbes observes, is more than HBO, which at the end of last year reported 28....

YouTube Weighs Subscription Fees

Payment option considered for premium content

(Newser) - YouTube is considering offering users a "you pay" subscription option that would give them access to premium TV shows and movies, according to a Google exec. The site is keen to expand its ties with Hollywood and show more full-length programs, but some content wouldn't be available under its...

Paywall Model Make-or-Break for Variety
Paywall Model Make-or-Break for Variety
jon friedman

Paywall Model Make-or-Break for Variety

Audience loyalty critical as online competitors gain ground

(Newser) - Variety will phase in a paywall starting today, a return to its pre-2006 model and a big gamble that its long history as the Hollywood daily will spur users to open their wallets. The site's traffic has increased since it became free, but it failed to attract a bump...

A Bailout Would Be a Disaster for Journalism

Future of journalism depends on paid content

(Newser) - Journalism has a bright future, despite the challenges of the digital age—but that future won't come for free, says Rupert Murdoch. Media companies that give people the news they want will be able to charge for it, he predicts in an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal , and...

Changes Afoot for Hollywood Trade Pubs

Variety to charge for online content; THR will move to web

(Newser) - Variety will go back behind a pay wall next year, less than 2 years after tearing down its old one, the Los Angeles Times reports. Variety.com will be open only to print or online subscribers, just as it was before February 2007. “Everyone thought then that if you...

No More Free News Online: Murdoch

Mogul steps up plans to charge for all News Corp's web offerings

(Newser) - Rupert Murdoch says the days of News Corp.'s giving away news from its newspapers and TV stations on the Internet are numbered, the Financial Times reports. Murdoch, who earlier this year said he planned to test pay-to-read models, now says he plans to start charging for access to all...

At Sun Valley, Media Moguls Will Obsess on Paid Content

(Newser) - From Rupert Murdoch to Twitter founder Evan Williams, moguls old and young descend on Sun Valley, Idaho, this week for an annual summit on media and technology. This year, reports the Financial Times, the dominant question concerns paid content—a debate that has spread from the troubled newspaper industry to...

Dirt-Cheap Netbooks Might Save Media Industry
Dirt-Cheap Netbooks Might Save Media Industry
OPINION

Dirt-Cheap Netbooks Might Save Media Industry

Paying for content, not hardware, is the key

(Newser) - There might be hope yet for the media industry, “because the tech industry is screwed too,” writes Simon Dumenco for Advertising Age. With light, cheap netbooks squeezing the profit out of the hardware, makers are partnering with media providers (ie, Acer selling netbooks for $100, plus 2-year AT&...

This Kid Holds YouTube's Death Rattle

(Newser) - Hey, you! Yes, you, the guy who keeps posting video of your nephew batting a ball into your brother’s family jewels. You’re going to kill YouTube, warns Benjamin Wayne of Silicon Alley Insider. Owner Google will lose $470 million this year on YouTube because, he writes, “less...

iPhone Users Love Apps—Then Forget Them

(Newser) - Apple has a lot of nifty apps for its iPhone, but apparently the novelty wears off in a hurry. A new analysis shows that many people download them, then promptly forget about them, Apple Insider reports. Just 20% of people use free apps the day after download; at the end...

Times Will Eliminate Pay Access to TimesSelect

Op-ed columnists to burst out from behind firewall

(Newser) - The New York Times will shut down TimesSelect, the pay section of its website that keeps columnists such as Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich beyond the reach of the great unwashed. The fate of the $7.95-a-month subscription service sparked hot debate among publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and other Times ...

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