Saturday, April 2, 2011

Report: Chronicle to implement paywall

The Chronicle's highly-popular web portal, SF Gate, is reportedly headed for a paywall, maybe as early as the end of the month, according to Bay Citizen.

Hearst corp, which owns the Chron, has met with its editors and is considering a metered paywall, similar to what the NY Times began earlier last month. Under the format, SFGate would charge a $9.95 monthly fee. Those who subscribe to both the print and electronic edition would not be charged.

Although SFGate's main site would still be free, only short stories and limited access would be available to non-subscribers--some of the Chron's more popular features like investigative reports, Matier and Ross, Scott Ostler and Jon Carroll, (top columnists) would require a subscription.

All of this, of course, is predicated on there being a sizable audience willing to pay money for information, some of it, granted, written and filtered by reader favorites, but ostensibly that could be had, say, on Yahoo or any number of sites, for free.

Staffers at the paper, according to media analysts, are "nervous."

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26 comments:

  1. If they start charging, popular no more.

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  2. I read it every day, but I'm gone if they charge. I can't afford it

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  3. $120 a year? Never.At $2.00 a month I would have to think about it. $120..never. You sure it isnt $9.95 a year?

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  4. I am a subscriber to the Chronicle, and I also frequent sfgate. Every 3 months we subscribers pay over 150.00 dollars for the Chron, so I don't believe they should charge us extra for the online addition of sfgate.

    I do believe it is good idea though for people who live outside of the area, and who don't subscribe to the Chron to be charged. Due to the fact that the Chronicle is going up in price every few months, and are trying to save the Chronicle on the backs of the Paying Subcribers.

    But if they try to charge me extra for sfgate I will not bite...I am already paying over 150.00 every 3 months.

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  5. I'll have to gulp...sign up.

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  6. R.I.P. SFgate/Chron.

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  7. Actually,I don't even think it's the columnist of Gate that are the main interest for those who go there anymore. Its the oddball columns about dogs and neighborhoods and weather-and posting to the news articles. As it is,they already delay their main columnist writings to the point I couldn't tell you the last time I read a Gwen Napp or Ostler.If they charge for those short no info storys and an occasional ,even,rare investigative piece..they ain't worth it. Like charging extra on your cable bill to watch KRON. Never.

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  8. SF Gate will find that their delusion that readers of that site are media junkies will be a rude awakening when few sign up.

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  9. Nope, ain't gonna pay. Maybe it will be a boost to Uncle Phil (PF Anshutz, not Phil B) over at the Examiner in terms of local flavor. There are always those regional "Metro" freebies too. Paying for the Chron would be like paying cable/satellite fees to listen to KGO.

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  10. I will stop reading it.

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  11. Newspaper paywalls are the only way they can survive. Period. Some papers have very good sites, like the Chron and the LA Times. For a modest charge they are worth it.SJ Merc is the worst I've seen. They should pay you to look at it.

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  12. Interesting to compare Chronicle with NYT. The NYT originates news, the Chronicle (mostly) reprints news from other sources, they have NEVER originated many news stories.

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  13. They are delusional to think they are in the same class as the NYTimes. Bye, Bye....

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  14. Two words:

    Google...News

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  15. Good for them!
    As a subscriber for many years, I resent freeloading online readers.
    There is no free lunch, guys!

    That said, The Chronicle is a poor excuse for a supposedly major newspaper.

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  16. Good luck Chron.
    Enjoyed it while it lasted.
    Paid subscriber? Not this poster.

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  17. The Chronicle's main news source . . .
    AP wire stories. Good Journalism guys.

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  18. I read both the NY Times and SF Gate regularly. I am on a tight budget and I won't be paying for either. However if I had to pony up for one of them, it would definitely be the NY Times...without a doubt.

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  19. $2 a month? $25 a year? OK.

    $10 a month? I'll suffice with the CC Times, Google, and the Drudge Report.

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  20. Paul Avery's reporting in the Chronicle on the Zodiac killer meant no Trick-or-treating one year for me and my friend; Caen and Hoppe made me dream of a career as a writer; the San Francisco Chronicle, for a Walnut Creek girl, was IT. Times they are a-changing. I wouldn't buy that rag sheet. The only time I read it is when someone leaves it on BART. While I believe that journalists need to be paid for their reporting, and as an American, I need to try to protect the "fourth estate;" but when a news organization tries to pass off drek and piffle as serious reporting, banner headlines about stars that I don't recognize and reconstituted news from other sites, well, don't start charging for it, just give up the ghost and partner with the National Enquirer...

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  21. I thought they already made money off of SFgate with the annoying popup ads.
    Many stories are duplicates of AP wire stories, or stories in the SJ Merc or Contra Costa Times etc.
    I won't be paying for a Chron subscription online.
    Stopped my Merc paid subscription a while ago - the paper kept getting thinner and thinner, with sections I liked vanishing into thin air, and too much reporting that sounds like press releases. Too much bias in the reporting.
    One of the reasons for reading sfgate is the comment system - does not use Facebook like the Merc does. Too bad that will go away too.

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  22. As the BLOATED OLD MAN likes 2 say & drops on his 9-noon...BYE-BYE...BYE-BYE! They can stick that paywall up their.....!

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  23. You can get a years subscription for $100 chronicle and 75$ for mercury news from those vendors you see at flea markets and other places.

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  24. how sad that all the lefties are going out of business, haha!! poke half your audience in the eye for years and years and when they finally have a chance to go elsewhere(internet) suddenly act surprised when nobody's buying your paper anymore, lol...OOOOPPPSSS!!!!

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