An advert in Times of Malta asked readers to “join in the swing to Rediffusion” as it promoted the latest wireless gadget.
Breaking news will remain free while the Times of Malta digital archive dating back to 1935 can be accessed by premium content users
For two-and-a-half pennies a day, cable radio aficionados were offered the option to change channels through a new wireless two-button device that did not require electricity.
This was May 13, 1936, and the advert promising the “best possible wireless entertainment” brought innovation to the primary semi-immediate news source on the island – cable radio.
Fast-forward 77 years: from a setting where families sat around the radio box to hear the news to a more personalised service where news is available at the touch of a finger and the way people get news has changed radically.
Radio, newspapers, magazines and television have been joined by the internet in an evolved landscape that sees news available everywhere on smartphones and tablet devices.
It is within this scenario that timesofmalta.com will from tomorrow offer its readers premium content against payment, a first for any Maltese news portal.
The move has ruffled feathers, raised question marks and triggered debate. Should news content delivered by media organisations over the internet remain free?
It is by all means an international debate as media organisations the world over grapple with rising costs and different audiences.
Adrian Hillman, managing director of Allied Group which publishes the newspaper and its online sister timesofmalta.com, said the decision to put up a pay wall would not impact the online breaking news service.
As from tomorrow, online readers will still access the news as it happens for free but this will be accompanied by premium content for those who want more value for their online experience.
“It’s never only about the bottom line,” Mr Hillman said when asked whether commercial considerations were at the heart of this move.
He insisted that credibility was a strength that helped Allied Group’s newspapers survive for almost eight decades even if this sometimes had a negative impact on the bottom line.
“A media house like ours does not survive by purely looking at its commercial interest, but because we are not subsidised by any entity the bottom line counts and counts significantly,” he said.
The commercial element had to be taken care of to sustain the organisation’s growth, he added. “This will in turn help us continue supplying the quality content we deliver day by day.”
For €2.99 per week, premium quality will include the e-paper, a full digital version of the printed newspaper, the historical archives that date back to the newspaper’s inception in 1935, a tablet and smartphone version for better functionality and blogs. The subscription will also give people browsing the site from overseas full access to timesofmalta.com.
Mr Hillman said the premium package offered was not a finished product and the company intends to embellish it after the launch.
“Some people like buying their newspaper at the newsagent every morning but others would like to read it on their iPad or smartphone and this will be possible from Monday (tomorrow),” Mr Hillman said.
A question that hounds any organisation like Times of Malta with a deep-rooted legacy and loyal readership is what will happen to its traditional newspaper readers as the company emphasises the digital platform.
But Mr Hillman said newspaper readers will not be forgotten. He noted that newspaper subscriptions had increased by a third over the past few months. “There is nothing in our future plans that will detract from the value and quality content that exists in the newspaper,” he said.
In a society that is rapidly evolving and difficult to predict, the pay wall initiative will remain a works in progress as timesofmalta.com breaks new ground like the wireless radio control 77 years ago.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com