NYT spox: pay model plan coming ‘very soon’

"You'll know more in a matter of weeks," New York Times executive editor Bill Keller said on March 4 when asked about his paper's long-percolating plans to start charging readers for online content.

Well, it's now been "a matter of weeks" (just about), and paidContent's Staci D. Kramer reports that The Times' metered online pay model plans "are close to being announced, possibly as early as today."

A spokesman for The Times wouldn't confirm the report. "I would only suggest very soon," said Robert Christie, senior vice president of corporate communications. "We are keeping tight lipped because we are protecting the announcement which will break exclusively in the New York Times."

UPDATE: The Times issued its announcement shortly after this item was published. Starting March 28, visitors to nytimes.com will enjoy access to 20 articles a month before being asked to pay $15 for unlimited access to the site.

The Times has indeed been very "tight lipped" about its pay model plans since first announcing a decision to charge for online content in January 2011. Times brass decided to go with a metered pay model, whereby readers could view a certain number of articles before the wall goes up (and only those subscribing to the Times, in print or online, can keep reading). However, the exact details--pricing plans and number of articles--have remained a mystery until today.

In February, chief executive Janet Robinson told investors that the Times "intend[s] to release our pay model soon." A few weeks later, Robinson said "the pay model for NYTimes.com is in the final testing phase and we expect it will launch shortly."

The timing of the announcement makes good business sense for the paper.

"Various outsiders with stakes are prepping for the news and starting to reach out as the drums get louder," Kramer wrote. "If the plan is to go metered by April 1, the start of a new quarter, this would be about the minimum amount of time needed for a heads up to users that the long-expected charges are about to start."

Here's another reason April 1 March 28 make sense to launch the pay wall: Times publisher and Janet Robinson will be speaking at Columbia University on April 5 for a discussion on "The Future of Media, Publishing and Paid Content."

(Photo of Bill Keller via nytimes.com)