Family-owned newspaper publisher CN Group has said it plans to start charging readers for online access.
The last major paywall experiment in the regional press was at the Wolverhampton-based Express and Star. It was scrapped after nine months in January 2012.
Johnston Press trialled paywalls at six of its titles in early 2010, but scrapped the experiment and continued with the free to air online model which is followed by the vast majority of regional titles.
CN Group chief executive Robin Burgess told yesterday's Society of Editors regional conference (reports Holdthefrontpage): "For some time I have thought that we can’t continue giving our content away. The reader must pay.”
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HTFP reports he added: “I am fairly certain it’s going to come.”
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