Will you pay for what has previously been free?

[mugofbeer]

Adding Fees and Fences on Media Sites - CNBC

more than a decade, consumers became accustomed to the sweet, steady flow of free news, pictures, videos and music on the Internet. Paying was for suckers and old fogeys. Content, like wild horses, wanted to be free.



Now, however, there are growing signs that this free ride is drawing to a close.

Newspapers, including The New York Times [NYT 12.22 0.06 (+0.49%) ], are weighing whether to ask online readers to pay for at least some of what they offer, as a handful of papers, like The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times, already do. Indeed, in the next several weeks, industry executives and analysts expect some publications to take the plunge.

Rupert Murdoch, beyond charging for access to The Journal, has talked about forming a partnership with a single search engine, which would pay him for the rights to scour the news and entertainment programming produced by his company, the News Corporation [NWS 15.88 0.02 (+0.13%) ], rather than letting all search engines crawl his sites. Also Hulu, which is owned partly by Mr. Murdoch’s company, is considering charging viewers to watch some of the TV shows it now streams free.

[Millie]

I'm surprised newspapers aren't already routinely charging for content, given the decline in subscriptions.

I would be willing to pay for content in some situations, but my internet behavior would probably change- for example, my current practice of reading a story on CNN and then following up for MSNBC's and Fox's takes would probably stop.

Would a subscription service degrade the quality of the news, though? I wonder if this would lead to further polarization of CNN/Foxnews in a quest to bring in subscription dollars...

[mugofbeer]

My thoughts go toward a further degradation of the traditional news services (that would charge for their content) and a further boosting of non-traditional internet sources that would report free news. Sites like the Tulsa newspaper tried to charge for their content and failed miserably. Seems some are trying to repeat that failure.

[bretthexum]

No way I'd pay for online news. I'll just go to the next free site...

[MadMonk]

This is great news for the sites that will remain free.

[ronronnie1]

No way I'd pay for online news. I'll just go to the next free site...

Same here.

[gmwise]

Same here.

Ditto..

[Bunty]

Doing that can't last forever, though. Conservatives who scream about how important it is to be personally responsible for yourself will probably be the first to complain when free runs out.

[mugofbeer]

Doing that can't last forever, though. Conservatives who scream about how important it is to be personally responsible for yourself will probably be the first to complain when free runs out.

huhhh?

[gmwise]

I am thinking soon the broadcast networks may go cable in order to survive.

[oneforone]

I will pay for it, provided it means more On Demand content and it means I get to enjoy television with 80% less commercials.

If you think about, the On Demand services are growing in popularity by leaps and bounds. I predict On Demand Services will replace broadcast schedules in the next decade or two. The only content that will be on a schedule are television and radio shows that require audience participation.

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

Doing that can't last forever, though. Conservatives who scream about how important it is to be personally responsible for yourself will probably be the first to complain when free runs out.

I'm making it my personal responsibility to say this to you...

[Bunty]

And you're a conservative?

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

And you're a conservative?

I'm somebody that doesn't interject politics into everything put in front of me.


Boss: Hey Mike, can you give Carol a hand? She's behind on her TPS reports.

Me: WTF You jackbag! This aint the Obama Office! This aint no communist Company! She needs to pull herself up by the bootstraps and do her own damn reports!

Boss: Obam...WHAT?

Me: You stinkin' liberal.

That scenario makes about as much sense as you interjecting what you think conservatives will do if all the news sites want to start charging for content. What do you think liberals will do? Expect the government to pay everybody's usage fees for Huffpo?

[Bunty]

It simply all goes back to the saying that there is no such thing as a free lunch.

[mugofbeer]

I am thinking soon the broadcast networks may go cable in order to survive.

Going prophet on us?

Will free TV fade to black? | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Dallas Business News

[gmwise]

Going prophet on us?

Will free TV fade to black? | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Dallas Business News

lol

imagine that..

[oneforone]

Techincally televison has never been free. You or someone else has to buy a television to be able enjoy telvision broadcasting. The purchase price of the television is like an admission fee to enjoy the programming.

Not to mention, it cost you time to sit through commericals to enjoy your favorite programs.

I for one am willing to pay for television if it means I never have to see another screaming car dealership commerical, a politcal campaign commerical or that stupid 1-800-2-Sell-Homes commerical.

[gmwise]

techincally televison has never been free. You or someone else has to buy a television to be able enjoy telvision broadcasting. The purchase price of the television is like an admission fee to enjoy the programming.

Not to mention, it cost you time to sit through commericals to enjoy your favorite programs.

I for one am willing to pay for television if it means i never have to see another screaming car dealership commercials (fowler), a political campaign commercial(lobbyists commercials[/COLOR]) or that stupid 1-800-2-sell-homes commercial.

amen!!!!

[Bunty]

If you're on cable, you're paying for televison every month.

[flintysooner]

I have a digital subscription to The Oklahoman for my Kindle. Before that I had not had a newspaper subscription for probably a decade or longer. The digital subscription is $5.99 per month and the content is quite good by comparison to others I've tried. It is the only newspaper subscription I have. So far I've not liked any of the magazines I've tried well enough to subscribe.

Television is by U-Verse and we've made additional purchases of content more than we ever expected. I can easily imagine paying for more content.

I already pay for some web content including this forum.

But all of this content now so far surpasses any previous level that is almost incomparable. And I can only imagine the digital content that I buy improving and offering new features. Unfortunately (or not) that does mean there will likely be some casualties in the ranks of providers.

I read a couple of "dead tree books" over the weekend and kept missing the ability to search, have instantaneous dictionary look ups, and make notes. When the grandchildren were over it was very nice to just pay for and begin watching a movie which was selected from the "children and family" category.

[gmwise]

If you're on cable, you're paying for televison every month.

Bunty,
This is in regards to over the air broadcast.
Such as KWTV, KOCO,KFOR,KOKH,KSBI,KOCB,KAUT,OETA,KOPX,KOCM...and so forth..

[mugofbeer]

Its also referring to internet news sites such as CNN and Fox that may soon require you to subscribe before you can view their content.

[gmwise]

Its also referring to internet news sites such as CNN and Fox that may soon require you to subscribe before you can view their content.

Originally Posted by mugofbeer
Going prophet on us?

Will free TV fade to black? | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Dallas Business News


I know what I prophesied!..lol

[mugofbeer]

My appologies, Your Greatness.........