Es Tu, ESPN?
The NY Times finally woke up and dropped its dreadful "TimesSelect" pay-to-read online subscription service. The new "All the News That's Fit to Click" re-branding effort is geared towards attracting more eyeballs to their wealth of opinion columns and archives that were previously hidden in the subscription abyss and frequently turning away disgruntled surfers. From now on, the Times' website will generate revenue through ads and sponsorships. Funny how that model (attract eyeballs = increased ad revenue) is the same as hmm... the Newspaper Industry?
And that is why I'm calling out ESPN, a Disney owned organization with perhaps the strongest brand in sports news. With their spectacular television coverage, one would assume their online presence to be equally top notch. But alas, so much great opinion and analysis are hidden behind subscription walls. This is infuriating, to say the least. Even their sister entity ABC let's people watch streaming TV episodes for free!
Users don't pay for online information they can get for free (duh). People like me will just surf over to Sports Illustrated and our regional newspapers. But, in the case of ESPN, it's a shame we can't enjoy the same great coverage online as on TV.
