'Daily News' Mulling Premium-Content Play?

Is the New York Daily News planning to repeat one of The New York Times's biggest mistakes?

Daily News gossip writer George Rush suggested as much in an interview on Judith Regan's Sirius satellite radio show today.

Regan was grilling Rush about how the News makes money from its online audience when Rush hinted the paper might adopt a model akin to TimesSelect, the premium-content service the Times used to monetize its opinion columns and other offerings.

"I think they're trying to work towards a New York Times arrangement where you have to pay a little extra to get the whole package," Rush said. "You get some of it free and you have to pay extra to get the rest."

Of course, the Times ditched TimesSelect in September after concluding it could make more money by offering all its content for free.

By the way, it sounds like Regan's conspiracy theory about Rudy Giuliani and Rupert Murdoch extends to the Daily News.

Introducing Rush, she said, "I hate the Daily News, but I love George," even though, she said, Rush sometimes makes fun of her in his column. "He's following the orders of Rudy Giuliani through Mort Zuckerman. 'Trash that bitch! Trash that bitch! We need to discredit her!'"