Mark Cuban suggests a proposition I'd actually consider paying for ... - Erik Hanberg

Mark Cuban suggests a proposition I’d actually consider paying for …

So to summarize. In addition to Fox websites from around the world, a $ 79 dollar annual value, you get: 2 books from our Harper Collins collection, with a value of up to $79; a subscription to the Weekly Standard, worth up to $64; a special $99 credit at The Fox Store where you can pick from an amazing selection of movies and TV shows.

For a total value of $321.

Because our Fox News Junkie Subscribers are critically important to us, we are offering this special package for a limited time only.  This amazing package can be yours for the low low price of only…

$ 9.95 per month with a minimum commitment of 15 months!

Add a subscription to the Wall Street Journal Online for $5 more per month, or get both the WSJ online and daily delivery to your home for an additional $9.95 per month.

Since I just blogged on Free, it’s a good idea to post the counterpoint.: compete with Free by offering exceptional value.

With the exception of the Weekly Standard, that package Cuban is proposing is a package I’d probably pay for $9.95 a month for, and might even add the WSJ Online for good measure.

Of course, he’s also clear: you can’t just start charging for newspapers online either, which means Cuban is still talking about one of the models of “Free” that Anderson covers: let a small group of users subsidize free users.

His argument in the same article for blocking inbound links from news aggregators is less persuasive. But this is pretty compelling.



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