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Old 08-27-2009, 08:10 PM  
Ron Bennett
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Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,653
Will fail, and one of the big reasons, is that most people will say to themselves "News is free on TV because of advertising. The web is like TV. So news on the web should be free too."

Wall Street Journal is a bad example to use for touting the success of paywalls, because often such subscriptions are paid for by companies, can be a tax deduction, and mainly because people are willing to pay a premium for detailed financial news, if they believe it will help them earn more money. Regular news doesn't have that appeal - for most folks, it's just entertainment; not worth paying for.

Unless CNN.com chooses to go along, which I doubt, this is a total non-starter. If CNN.com does go along, which I seriously doubt, then lots of free blogs will pop up with pirated news stories. Also many net savvy people will seek out foreign news sites, such as the BBC for U.S. / world news.

Ron
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