The NY Times Company announced its first quarter results—and offered news on how its NYTimes.com digital paywall is doing. So far, the Times has signed up about 100,000 subscribers (not including the subscribers through the Lincoln ads) since the 20 articles-free-then-paywall introduction three weeks ago; its press release states, "So soon after the launch, the Company does not yet have visibility into conversion and retention rates for these paying customers after the initial promotional period, although early indicators are encouraging." What's less encouraging: First quarter net income dropping 57% versus last year. more ›

Today, the NY Times unveiled its new paywall for the NYTimes.com website. Starting at 2 p.m., NYTimes.com has been offering the first 20 articles/month a visitor read for free, but after that, the NY Times would like visitors to pay $15 to $35 per month for unlimited access (there's a special 99-cent/week offer for this first month). Publisher Arthur Sulzberger even offered a letter to readers—and a photo of himself by celebrity photographer Brigitte Lacombe—to explain this new era. But did he realize there are ways around the paywall? Here are a few: more ›

In an attempt to soften declining revenue and profit, the NY Times is rolling out a new paywall system for NYTimes.com. According to its own article, "Beginning March 28, visitors to NYTimes.com will be able to read 20 articles a month without paying, a limit that company executives said was intended to draw in subscription revenue from the most loyal readers while not driving away the casual visitors who make up the vast majority of the site’s traffic." more ›

The other week, Cablevision revealed that it would shift Newsday.com from a free website to one that charges for its content, given the declining fortunes of newspaper industry. Now the NY Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger says he is considering "incremental" charges at the NYTimes.com website. At an event at SUNY Stony Brook, Sulzberger discussed the print industry, “The immediate future looks, at a minimum, grim. Traditional revenue streams are anemic and getting worse." The NY Times has had various approaches for web revenue: Charging non-subscribers, charging international visitors, charging for editorials and opinion pieces... An analyst tells Crain's, “The Times has taken this position of ‘we’re free, we’re the biggest news site on the Web' If they make a mistake and confuse people again, the Times will have pulled defeat from the jaws of potential victory.” more ›