Local newspapers may actually have an easier time charging for content than national and international news brands like the New York Times (NYSE: NYT). And what’s the biggest threat to paid music? Well, probably not piracy. These were among the assertions by panelists on paidContent2010’s The Truth About Subscriptions, who…

The Financial Times has a sizeable and nicely growing subscription business—so why mess with micropayments? FT.com Managing Director Rob Grimshaw says that half the FT’s print customers are newsstand buyers, and the company needs to offer an similar a la carte option online as well. Grimshaw, in an interview with…

Reuters (NYSE: TRI) makes most of its money in B2B, but the company is also trying to prove that it can also build revenues on the consumer side without eating into its primary business. In an interview with WSJ.com managing editor Kevin Delaney at our paidContent2010 conference, Devin Wenig, the…

Are things at Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) finally starting to stabilize? In a Q&A on stage at paidContent2010, Hilary Schneider, EVP of Yahoo Americas, talked about everything from the Newspaper Consortium to Yahoo’s latest branding campaign, insisting that after numerous reorgs, the company is finally, well, organized. In the interview with…

People love to debate the merits of free vs. paid content. But overlooked in all this is the cost of access to that content—that’s where the action is. We’re paying more than we ever have to receive our movies, news and music, according to Forrester analyst James McQuivey. Here’s his…

At our first paidContent2010 conference, Elinor Hirschhorn, Simon & Schuster’s EVP & chief digital officer, spoke about the potential for book-online video hybrids such as Vook. “Is there a return?” she asked. “The real question is about distribution. It needs a larger channel or distribution relationship for the browser experience…

For nearly 40 minutes, top executives from The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) took questions from interviewer Staci D. Kramer, co-editor and EVP of ContentNext Media, and participants in paidContent 2010. Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., chairman and publisher; Janet Robinson, president and CEO; and Martin Nisenholtz, SVP-digital operations, knew the…

This past Friday we had our first paidContent 2010 conference at NYC’s TheTimesCenter . During the jam-packed day we had a special lunchtime Q&A with The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) Company’s Arthur Sulzberger Jr., Janet Robinson and Martin Nisenholtz, and talked all things digital news, subscription models, big-media joint…

Highlights from Rafat Ali’s conversation with Demand Media’s Shawn Colo, Discovery’s Bruce Campbell, Associated Content’s Patrick Keane, About’s Cella Irvine, and AOL’s Marty Moe: —Gutters: Are the panel members—whose companies are sometimes referred to as “content farms”—driving the value of content to the “gutter?” Colo: No; “We’re adding value by…

With all the talk of paywalls at paidContent2010 today, the question of what it means for advertisers is pretty crucial. “What’s the matter, are you not interested in our money anymore?” Amanda Richman, MediaVest’s EVP & Managing Director, Digital, told Jim Spanfeller, President & CEO, Spanfeller Group. While in a…

Highlights from our Staci Kramer’s conversation with Steven Brill of Journalism Online, Jeff Price of The Sporting News and David Hyman of MOG: —Sporting News: A new convert to the paid content model. Price, who just joined Sporting News as publisher this week, says that the Sporting News will charge…

Highlights from WSJ.com managing editor Kevin Delaney’s conversation with Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI) Markets CEO Devin Wenig (who, by the way, oversees $8 billion of paid content revenue): —Reuters.com: Wenig says the company will add “paid services” on top of its news site this year. The site, he says, is…

The big story the past few months on the subject of paid content is the NYTCo’s announcement that it would pursue a metered model for its website. Our Staci D. Kramer put the basic question to top NYTCo (NYSE: NYT) execs during the first afternoon session at paidContent2010, which is…

The discussion started by ContentNext’s Ernie Sander and FT.com’s Rob Grimshaw at paidContent 2010 continued with a panel of other digital media execs from traditional media companies—along with Google (NSDQ: GOOG) product manager Josh Cohen. —Flavor of the month: CNN.com’s KC Estenson: “There are new revenue opportunities today that we…

The FT.com, whose metered model has been considered an example for other outlets, such as the NYTimes.com, has 1.9 million registered users, plus 121,000 paying subscribers, said the site’s Managing Director Rob Grimshaw in a Q&A with ContentNext Managing Editor Ernie Sander at paidContent 2010. Grimshaw on why the FT…

Highlights from Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) Americas EVP Hilary Schneider’s discussion with our Staci Kramer at paidContent 2010: —Yahoo-Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) deal: “We’re still Yahoo as it turns out,” Schneider says, when asked whether she should be shouting “Bing” instead of the “Yahoo” she exclaimed when asked about the deal. What…

Pali Capital’s Rich Greenfield opened the paidContent 2010 conference at the TimesCenter with a note of skepticism about the recent spate of media joint ventures, such as Hulu or the recently-launched YouTube music video channel Vevo. Moderator Quincy Smith, ex-CBS Interactive (NYSE: CBS) exec now partner, Code Advisers, put the…

We’re sold out on tickets, but we will be live-streaming the full-day event with paidContent2010 technology partner Livestream. For the coverage, which starts at 8:15 a.m. EST, go here on our site. It’s not going to be the same as being there: There won’t be any networking opportunities, including the…

A premium ecosystem has been spawned by the advent of smartphones and e-readers. News outlets unwilling to charge for online news don’t flinch at fees for news by app. Book publishers are pushing aside the idea that digital means cheaper. New dedicated e-readers are closer than any before to fulfilling…