The Sun Removes Online Paywall
Premier League clips could soon be available for free after The Sun confirmed it would be removing its online paywall.
Currently highlights are only available to online subscribers, but it is understood that the online clips package will be available once outstanding rights problems are finalised by 30th November, according to media reports.
Online clips from every Premier League game are owned by Sky Sports, after agreeing a new deal in July, and entered into a distribution partnership with News UK.
The online subscription service was introduced in 2013 and the scrapping of the paywall is the first change from Rebekah Brooks since she returned to oversee the Sun and the Times.
In September, according to ABC data, the tabloid had 1.1m unique browsers a day, compared to the Daily Mail’s 13.4m and the Mirror Group titles 3.9m, whilst actual sales fell by 34% in Brooks’ absence.
Douglas McCabe, media analyst at Enders Analysis told Reuters: “For popular journalism generally, I think it’s incredibly difficult to run a subscription model for that kind of content. This isn’t premium financial information.”
“They do have a very powerful brand, and I don’t think that brand has been destroyed in any way. It still has real resonance in the marketplace,” McCabe added.
The Financial Times, the New York Times and Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal and the Times of London, will still keep their paywall.
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