Factiva customers who want continued total access to the FT.com will have to pay for a second, separate subscription, reports our sister site PC:UK. The change is part of the FT’s decision to give casual readers free access to 30 articles per month. The new structure takes affect in April, when users of paid aggregation services like Factiva, Alacra, LexisNexus and others will have to pay for the FT Content License. Subscription prices start at $3,796 (£1,990) for corporations that want access for 10 or more employees; the price decreases as the number of users increases. By comparison, premium individual subscriptions are $299 and $398 (includes print edition).

SEE ALSO: FT.com Seeks Subs By Asking Factiva Users To Buy New Licence

Karin Borchert, Factiva’s VP for global content and customer operations, told me that she doesn’t expect Factiva to feel much of an impact. “If they’re a casual user, they might just opt to go straight to FT.com.” Factiva’s customers are different and use it because it provides unfettered access to news material. Also, while acknowledging the FT’s U.S. and global presence, she added that “the majority of the interest is in the UK.”

Affect of a free WSJ.com?: As for how the service might be affected should its sister News Corp./DJ pub WSJ.com go free, Borchert said: “The organization at the WSJ.com has different goals than the FT. Either way, it’s too early to say what decisions will take place in terms of going with a free, ad-supported model in place of subscriptions.”

Our UK editor Robert Andrews has more on FT’s thinking at PC:UK.