As a loyal subscriber, I got an email from the LA Times yesterday offering me an ‘all-access’ subscription for no additional cost. The all-access plan–pitched as a celebration of Earth Day–would give me full access to the electronic version of the Times on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, days I don’t get the print edition.
GO GREEN NOW! the ad screams.
Sound good (if little different than just reading the paper online)–but my take is that it’s leading down the road to what the Detroit Free Press is already doing–cutting out home delivery during the week and only serving subscribers on weekends.
Or maybe this is the first step in trying to charge for content again.
Either way, newspapers can’t grow by cutting off fingers and toes.
Tags: death-of-newspapers, death-of-print, Detroit-Free-Press, LA-Times
April 27, 2009 at 6:32 pm |
A full-time subscriber for decades, I’ve had “all access” since the program started, and still don’t have the slightest idea what I’m getting.
There’s a link every nmorning to an electronic edition, but what’s the difference between that and just looking to The Times’s website.
Your theory makes sense in that respect, I suppose, as does your being able to fill in the days when you don’t receive the paper. But I don’t think The Times itself has made it very clear what they’re offering.