A regional daily is set to join some of its sister titles in charging readers to use its tablet edition.
The Birmingham Mail as announced the move, which will take effect from today, although current subscribers can sign up for a month’s free subscription before that date.
The change will bring the Mail into line with fellow Trinity Mirror big city dailies including the Liverpool Echo and Manchester Evening News.
Editor Marc Reeves announced the switch in a message to current subscribers.
He said: “The news industry is facing unprecedented challenges in an uncertain economic climate but in this momentous year, I firmly believe properly resourced, independent journalism you can trust is more important than ever.
“Our new charge works out at just 17p per issue – and will go some way to help us cover our day-to-day running costs.
“I hope you agree this still represents great value for our award-winning exclusives, agenda-setting columnists and unrivalled news and football coverage.
“It will help us continue to campaign on behalf of the victims of the Birmingham pub bombings, ensure that the West Midlands is able to implement positive changes in the wake of Brexit and bring the most heart-warming human stories to life.”
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I don’t know what happened to subscribers of the Liverpool Echo and Manchester Evening News after they started charging for their tablet edition (don’t we have any figures?), but surely the amount of money the Mail is likely to earn from this will be tiny as subscribers vote with their people and leave?
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Where’s a sub when you need one? That should be ‘vote with their feet’ not people!
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Good luck to them. I hope it’s promoted well, given time, and backed with the sort of quality news and sport that makes it a worthwhile purchase for readers.
If it’s filled with the sort of banal drivel that populates so many websites now, it is doomed to failure. Believe it or not, nobody wants to pay for ’10 side-splitting pictures of pigeons on bollards’.
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