June 15, 2012

The Buffalo News | Artvoice
“Trusted, credible and enterprising news gathering by 140 professional journalists doesn’t come cheap, nor should it,” Buffalo News Editor Margaret Sullivan writes in announcing a digital subscription plan coming this fall.

A FAQ gets into the deets: Nonsubscribers will be able to view 10 stories a month gratis. A digital-only subscription will cost $2.49 per week with automatic renewal, or you can get a Sunday-only print subscription with free digital for $1.99/week.

The Buffalo News is owned by Warren Buffett, a prominent fan of paywalls. In a letter to the editors and publishers of the Media General papers purchased by Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett said they “must rethink the industry’s initial response to the Internet. The original instinct of newspapers then was to offer free in digital form what they were charging for in print. This is an unsustainable model.”

Artvoice’s Alan Bedenko notices that a one-day subscription to the online paper will cost $.99, 24 cents more than a print copy.

This isn’t the first Berkshire Hathaway newspaper to charge for online access. The Omaha World-Herald, which it bought in December, uses Press+ to charge for access to Omaha.com. It too allows people to view a certain number for free every month.

Related: Warren Buffett to buy small Texas daily, will own 88 newspapers (Poynter)

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Andrew Beaujon reported on the media for Poynter from 2012 to 2015. He was previously arts editor at TBD.com and managing editor of Washington City…
Andrew Beaujon

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