News International’s chief executive has said The Sun must start charging readers of its website as the company confirmed it would introduce a paywall later this year.
The Sun is following the Telegraph, which on Tuesday announced it would implement a subscription system for online access.
Mike Darcey, chief executive of publisher News International, said the firm had no choice but to ask readers to pay for the online version of the red-top which is threatening the tabloid’s circulation and revenues.
“This decision comes from a deep-seated belief that it is just untenable to have 2.4 million paying 40p for the Sun at the same time as a bunch of other people are getting it for free,” he told The Guardian.
“The Sun website is a fantastic website and sometimes it is a better product. I have to believe that we are all suffering, to a greater or lesser degree in the print world because of that that part of those people are saying day in, day out ‘why am I paying for the Sun when I can get it for free?’.”
The Telegraph will offer visitors to its website a choice between two different packages after using up a quota of 20 free stories a month.
Readers will be offered a free month’s trial before being asked to commit to a subscription.
The paywall is being introduced to the UK site after a similar “metered” system was trialled on the international version of the website.
Daily Telegraph editor Tony Gallagher said: “We want to develop a closer rapport with our digital audience in the UK, and we intend to unveil a number of compelling digital products for our loyal subscribers in the months ahead.”