Will the new pay plan work for the New York Times?

We’re just about to get into newspapers in the class, and for the next few years, you’ll be hearing about how newspapers can survive on the internet. Generally speaking, newspaper sales are down, and many people point to the internet as the prime reason, saying that more people are reading news online for free instead of paying a dollar or so for a copy of the paper.

As a result, we’ve heard many debates about what newspapers should be doing on the web. Should they be behind a paywall, only to be accessed by subscribers? Should they be free, supported by advertising? Or should we find some hybrid model?

At the moment, there’s no general consensus for newspapers. Being entirely behind a paywall blocks websites from linking to your stories, which can mean less traffic to your site. And the free advertising-supported model is what newspapers have been doing for years, and it’s obviously not working.

The New York Times just announced a new plan that will go into effect in January 2011. The specifics haven’t been released yet, but readers will be able to view a certain number of Times stories for free. After they pass that number, they will be charged a fee and get unlimited access.

Media observers, bloggers, pundits and readers will have an entire year to debate whether or not this is going to work, and the debates have already begun.

My take (and Dr. Shaw will likely have a completely different take on it) is that this will either be too easy for readers to circumvent, or else it will be nailed down too tightly and will make it a hassle to visit the site. It’s going to be difficult to find a balance between too open and too closed. And what about my free New York Times app on my iPhone? If I read too many stories on that, will I get charged?

The New York Times is a major influence on the rest of the industry, so whether or not this works could influence the online presence of other newspapers. Rupert Murdoch’s deal with Bing could be another influential move. We’ll just have to keep watching…