The Times offers tablet, digital subscription to UK readers
updated 07:46 am EST, Tue December 4, 2012
Google Nexus 7 added to newspaper paywall subscription deal
UK newspaper The Times is offering a discounted Google Nexus 7 as part of a subscription deal. The digital-only subscription would offer access to content hidden behind the paywall for 18 months as well as the 32GB variant of the tablet as a bundle deal. This is seen as an attempt to coerce British readers to pay for its online content, something that newspapers are finding tricky to do.
The deal itself works out to be a £150 ($240) discount on the £200 ($320) tablet when paid as a £300 ($480) lump sum for the entire subscription, with the newspaper effectively costing £4 ($6) per week without the tablet. A monthly £17 ($27) option is also available, with the first month costing £67 ($110) in order to cover the £50 ($80) tablet charge.
The move to offering a tablet for a digital subscription is made more interesting by the fact that The Times is owned by News Corp, whom recently announced their intention to cull the digital-only newspaper The Daily later this month. While it could be argued that a similar tablet and subscription package could have saved it from being shut down, the same deal could end up being offered by US-based newspapers in the future.
