The Sun to charge for online content

The Sun Online will begin charging for its content later this year following The Daily Telegraph’s decision to do the same.

News International, the company behind the tabloid, has said that it is “untenable” to have 2.4 million paying 40p a day for the paper while others get it online for free. It is reported that The Sun website is viewed over 30 million times a month.

“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.” – Mike Darcey, News International Chief Executive, speaking to The Guardian

The Daily Telegraph announced this week that it its online content is to go behind a metered paywall as the newspaper industry begins to take on the American model of charging users for viewing online newspaper content. The American model gives users up to 20 free articles a month before it offers up a payment model to continuing reading articles on the website.

The Financial Times already operate behind a metered paywall, following the United States model from the New York Times and the Washington Post. The Times, which was one of the first newspapers go behind a paywall in the UK, offers no free content.

The decision to charge for viewing online content comes as newspaper circulation continues to decline year on year.

The Sun remains the best selling daily newspaper in the UK despite a series of arrests relating to phone-hacking and illegal payment allegations. The Rupert Murdoch owned business began a Sunday version of the Sun last year following the closure of News of the World in 2011.