Sun-readers face online charges

Readers of The Sun and The News of the World will be charged for online access as publishing giant News International strives to claw back its new media investment.

silicon.com has learned that the tabloid titles, which currently only have a basic web presence and no search engine, will join The Times and The Sunday Times in charging readers to access archived content.

The Times and The Sunday Times launched a joint archive service in November, allowing users to search articles dating back to 1985 for free - but charging £1 per story to access the full text.

According to Katie Vanneck, publisher of The Times Newspapers Online, the archive service "did a lot better than expected and took everyone [in News International] by surprise."

She added: "In terms of our whole business it still looks pretty unsubstantial, but it has definitely hit the radar."

The service's unexpected success has convinced News International bosses to back a similar move by their other popular titles.

"The Sun and The News of the World will now be joining the archive, and we also hope to bring in sister publications from around the world like The New York Times and The South China Morning Post in time," said Vanneck.

News International chief executive Rupert Murdoch has previously been publicly sceptical about the ability of dot-coms to make a return on investment.

The media giant made a hesitant entry into online publishing, which gave rivals Guardian Unlimited and The Electronic Telegraph a chance to steal readers. Now the Times Online is making up for its slow start by pioneering paid-for services.

Vanneck said: "Going online has forced us to understand the value of our content. Content from The Times is not available on any other website unless it has been bought from us.

"If all our competitors had done the same it would have been more difficult for the likes of Yahoo! to make money, and newspapers could have been the portals instead."

The Times Online is set to unveil a new look site in the next few weeks. No date has been set for the launch of archive services from The Sun and The News of the World.