Geektastic: I thought about subscribing. For a femtosecond.

Wow! That's a long time compared to how long most of us considered it. You must be quite a fan. LOL

I sure as hell wouldn't pay anything to read Leighton Smith's "opinion", never mind reading it (or listening to him on the radio) for free. The "egos" comment from the last page is definitely relevant.

Even at $5 a week, you still can't use it to line your pet's litter tray.

DarthKermit:

Two hundred and sixty bucks a year. It had better be really goddam premium content for that kind of outlay. I'd be a bit pissed off with trashy celebrity gossip and old Mrs Madge Fugglesworth's pussy stuck up a tree, etc.

eracode:

Mrs F should know better than to climb trees at her age.

Only funny if you're an eight year-old.

Rikkitic:

 

eracode:

Mrs F should know better than to climb trees at her age.

 

 

 

Only funny if you're an eight year-old.

 

 

 

 

 

DarthKermit:

 

Two hundred and sixty bucks a year. It had better be really goddam premium content for that kind of outlay. I'd be a bit pissed off with trashy celebrity gossip and old Mrs Madge Fugglesworth's pussy stuck up a tree, etc.

 

Seriously???

As the NBR offer a "Smartphone Only" subscription option for $20 / month which is $240 per year. Their full subscription (not device restricted) is $35/ month or $420 per year. At least the NBR actually provide quality news and reporting. And you can then use the RNZ website to keep up with non business / politics etc NZ news.

Also no advertising on the NBR. And they label any supplied content / press releases as such. So at least you can easily tell what articles they wrote themselves.

They are also offering a limited time subscription for $350 for a year. Presumably to try and capture those who don't want to pay for the NZH.

Im already a NBR subscriber, but Im otherwise not connected to them.

I wonder if the "premium" Herald stuff will remove the advertising as well (a la the NBR)?

I also pay for a subscription to the Guardian. I seem to be unusual in that I am open to the idea of a Herald subscription in the hope that if they get more income the quality will improve (one can hope...). However it'd have to be good quality content for me to subscribe. Might give it a go for a few weeks (if there is no cancellation penalty) and see how it goes.

The exact nature of the content is going to depend on who the target audience is for this service. 

Will it be intellectuals who are mourning the loss of long form journalism on free-to-air platforms? Will it be professionals who perhaps would otherwise pay for business news via NBR or Newsroom Pro? Will it be the baby boomers who listen to NZME radio stations and presumably have a lot of disposable income?

On the other hand it is possible that NZME won't actually take a targeted approach in which case this will end up being yet another one of their commercial failures. 

I just read that all paywalled content will also be available to subscribers of regional NZME newspapers. We subscribe to Hawke's Bay Today because it is the only remaining local paper. It is mentioned as one. So I guess we can also 'enjoy' the premium content. Whether we want to or not may be another matter. Even for free I would never read the Herald. The Dominion Post used to be my newspaper of choice, though of course that was a few years ago.