Local news buffs will now have to pay to read more than 15 Arlington Sun Gazette articles per month online.
The Sun Gazette’s parent company, Northern Virginia Media Services, says it activated a metered paywall on its Northern Virginia news site, InsideNova.com, on Dec. 1. Sun Gazette articles are published on the site.
The paywall is designed to force readers to complete a free registration after reading five articles per month, according to an announcement last week. After reading another ten in the course of a month, the site will require a $4.99 per month subscription.
“Many news sites have gone in this direction,” Northern Virginia Media Services COO Bruce Potter said in the announcement. “We are simply asking our heaviest users to contribute a little bit toward the cost of providing the outstanding content on which they rely every day.”
While the online subscription is described as a “minimal monthly fee,” it’s actually more expensive than another way to get online access: by subscribing to the Sun Gazette print edition. The company says a subscription to the weekly newspaper is $39 per year and includes full online access.