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Timesselect Ending This Week

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by Jeff Bercovici
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Sep 17 2007 12:00am EDT

TimesSelect Ending This Week?

It's been all but official for over a month now that The New York Times was ready to put the kibosh on TimesSelect, its premium-content subscription service. But when?

I'm hearing it's going to be announced this week. So far, though, my calls and emails to two Times spokespersons haven't been returned, so for now it'll have to remain all but official.

While the Times has one of the most popular news sites on the web, TimesSelect has been unpopular with readers and Times writers alike. But the real impetus for the switch, says one Times source, is Rupert Murdoch's acquisition of The Wall Street Journal, and his public musings about throwing out that paper's subscription model: "Everyone assumes that Murdoch's going to do this with the Journal, and they want to get ahead of him."

UPDATE: Another source confirms but says the announcement might not come until next week. This source also pooh-poohs the Murdoch link, noting that discussions about nixing TimesSelect have been under way since early this year, before News Corp. made its bid for Dow Jones.

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