The NYT paywall will return

New York Magazine blogger Gabriel Sherman says the return of the New York Times paywall is imminent.

After a year of often tumultuous debate, The Gray Lady appears settled on a metered system similar to the one used by The Financial Times. Readers are allotted a certain amount of free stories per month, and beyond that readers must subscribe.

The Times toyed with a similar pay-per-view scheme a few years ago. In 2005, the paper launched TimesSelect, which made opinion pieces and other editorial  content available only by subscription. The Times discontinued TimesSelect in 2007. At the time, the paper admitted that making content free and deriving revenue from advertising was financially smarter than the subscription-based model. That is apparently no longer the case.

Closer to home, DAP News is free. The Phnom Penh Post charges for content more than 90 days old. And The Cambodia Daily makes available only a very small selection of stories.