No Free News! Pay to View Sign of The Times

Don’t worry – GadgetyNews is staying free, unlike The Times and Sunday Times websites.

News International owner Rupert Murdoch is putting an end to free access to the news sites and will start to charge £1-a-day or £2-a-week to access content from one of the UK’s most respected media institutions

This is obviously a reaction to falling newspaper sales and Murdoch is positive that online readers should have to pay for their news just the same as they would when buying a paper. RM says that ad-generated revenue is not enough to keep the business ticking over.

The Times and Sunday Times will launch separate websites in May which will replace the existing Times Online portal.

Registered users will receive a free trial of the service, with charges coming into effect in June.

Could this internet landmark bring around more free sites charging to view content? It’s fair to say that The Sun and News of The World’s websites, which are also owned by Murdoch, will probably be next and then the watergates will open. If successful I’d expect to see The Telegraph, Guardian and Independent to be close behind.

We could even start to see parts of Facebook and YouTube becoming pay-per-view.

Do you agree? Do you expect to pay for the news?