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The newspaper, part of the Murdoch empire, says it can identify overseas visitors with "90 percent accuracy," writes Drew Cullen.
"The free ride is over and the days of free content have gone," Paul Hayes, the general manager of Times Newspapers, told the Media Guardian.
The Times charges for some on-line content already, most notably for access to its famous crossword section. It is also to start charging for access to law reports and for a new World Cup section, the Guardian reports.
So what will happen when the charges are introduced: first the reader numbers will drop, and then the advertising revenues will follow. Overseas readers will tip up at for their UK fix at The BBC and the Guardian Online and, so long as it remains free, the Electronic Telegraph.
Very few newspapers have made a success or a profit out of their on-line sisters. In the UK, The Guardian and The FT have done well on the readership front, and the latter has done well on revenues (while managing to drop STG30 million last year on its FT.com subsidiary).
The Register and its contents are copyright 2002 Situation Publishing. Reprinted with permission.
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