back to article Currant Bun erects £2 paywall: Wraps digi-paper around free footie

British tabloid The Sun has revealed a subscription plan to access the digital version of the newspaper, Sun+. The daily is essentially offering a football video package with The Sun's stories wrapped around it, for £2 a week. Near-live TV clips of Premier League games will be bundled in the deal, as News International's …

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  1. nuked

    How does this differ from The Sun's website, which appears at first (and only) glance to be exactly the same as the described premium service?

  2. Gordon Pryra

    Good idea for once

    Affordable price for a product their intended market actually want.

    its good to see stories like this appear about the web, for once it doesn't appear to have one side scamming the other.

    That said, having lived in Vicarage Road in Watford from an early age, and having seen them play live around 15 times and NEVER seen them win or loose. I kin hate football. Don't much like the Sun either

    1. Martin
      Headmaster

      ...never seen them win or LOSE.

      loose = not tight.

      lose = not win.

      Sigh.

      1. Danny 14
        Megaphone

        Re: ...never seen them win or LOSE.

        well if you swap loose for lose then watford have a 1 point bonanza record. Then again if he has never seen them win or loose then perhaps watford should think about relaxing the formation a bit? Perhaps a 4 2 3 1 as enjoyed by the rather flexible german teams.

  3. Steven Raith
    FAIL

    Mail online

    As Rupert Murdoch told the Leveson inquiry (PDF), the Mail Online is "unrecognisable as part of the Daily Mail"

    I dunno, they're both pathetic excuses for actual journalism, so there's definitely a resemblance.

  4. JimC

    Well hopefully

    The increasing use of paywalls is a sign that we will get liberated from Big Advertsing being the only source of income on the net...

    1. Ragarath

      Re: Well hopefully

      @JimC

      I take it you mean because they are charging for content they won't show advertising? Good luck with that! If there are two income streams why cut one off?

      I point out the paper in question. You pay for the paper (to read I presume or maybe P3 but then there is the web for that) and what do you find inside? Yup adverts, so the case already exists.

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

  5. Spoonsinger
    Coat

    "The Daily Telegraph introduced a subscription last month, with the first 20 articles free"

    Ummm, well, Firefox->Privacy->Remove individual cookies->Search 'Telegraph'->Delete All.

    1. gazthejourno (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: "The Daily Telegraph introduced a subscription last month, with the first 20 articles free"

      But that would be naughty. As would browsing the Torygraph in por- ahem, private mode to auto-clear cookies on exit.

      1. Tim Brown 1
        Facepalm

        Re: "The Daily Telegraph introduced a subscription last month, with the first 20 articles free"

        The technical incompetence of the Telegraph's setup is staggering.

        1. Steve Evans

          Re: "The Daily Telegraph introduced a subscription last month, with the first 20 articles free"

          As staggering as the graudian's grammar and spell check?

        2. Spoonsinger

          Re: "The technical incompetence of the Telegraph's setup is staggering."

          Actually It's not really technical incompetence which is the problem, more a marketing thing. i.e. they need to draw in people with the free articles to persuade them to buy into their 'bigger' package. However really only two easy ways to do this:-

          1) Cookie counter, (obviously flawed)

          2) Force initial user account setup with limited free articles, (also flawed because you'd just go and setup a new account when the free stuff runs out)

          Ahh you say, what if the user actually has to give some unique identification when they create the account for #2, (i.e. unique credit card number or bank details). Well a) that's a hassle for getting people to read your drivel and b) people will just go to sites which amalgamate the news rather than wanting to put themselves on a 'list'.

          With the cookie approach they are assuming that most of the folk who read the drivel are technically incompetent and that, obviously, has been calculated into the reason for going that way. The, errm, 'freeloaders', still have the adverts, ermmm, sometimes. So it's really extra dosh, for not a lot of effort.

        3. Tom 38

          Re: "The Daily Telegraph introduced a subscription last month, with the first 20 articles free"

          It only needs to be as technically competent as their readership. Most Telegraph readers I know are "of a certain age", this would (and does) flummox them to the extent that it does work.

          It only has to work for a certain percentage of the readership, and then you don't worry about the others. It's like piracy, as long as it is extremely hard and on the fringes of the internet, nae bother, if it is easy enough that Jammie Thomas can do it, plenty bother.

    2. helicoil

      Re: "The Daily Telegraph introduced a subscription last month, with the first 20 articles free"

      Or just open a "New Private Window" .

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    More importantly

    What about page3.com?

    1. Anonymous Coward 15
      Paris Hilton

      Re: More importantly

      It's the Internet, you can already see boobs and a whole lot more elsewhere.

      1. Crisp

        Re: More importantly

        There are boobs on the internet!?

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Can only hope Google News now stops giving me Sun stories

    and if so then hoping Daily-Celeb---Slip-Mail follows suit, since despite setting the sliders for these publications to nil Google still slathers them into the news feed.

  8. Dalek Dave

    The Daily Telegraph subscription is easily avoided.

    I leave it as an exercise for other readers.

    Clue : Cookies

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Near-live TV clips of Premier League"

    I have images of recreations of match moments using stopmation and Subbuteo.

    PS. I have to say that I had no idea the Sun was also known as Currant Bun until reading this; I thought there was some satirical periodical a la Daily Mash/Onion I was unaware of. Actually, it could also be the Sun is a satirical newspaper and I never realised.

  10. Fihart

    Another reason not to look at Sun site.

    I thought the Metro (the London free paper, not the TIFKAM so beloved of our readers) was vacuous and stupid, but a glance at the Sun reassures me that, still, no-one loses money by underestimating the intelligence of the general public. Bring on the Paywall and, please feel free to quadruple the price of the printed paper. The less people read it, the better.

    1. Piro Silver badge

      Re: Another reason not to look at Sun site.

      Agreed. I have no problem with them taking money from football fans. Can't stand it.

    2. billynomates
      Big Brother

      Re: Another reason not to look at Sun site.

      The fewer......... not the less. One has to keep ones standards up when slagging off the red tops. Billynomates for a reason.

      1. Fihart

        Re: Another reason not to look at Sun site.

        Fewer people reading it, or people reading it less ? Really doesn't bother me and I make my living as a writer.

  11. Magister

    Meh

    Haven't read the Currant Bun for nearly 40 years; I thought it was a waste of paper then and nothing I've heard since would encourage me to change my mind. (Nor the Mirror)

    Not interested in accessing their web site; not if they paid me £2 a week. If I want that kind of news, I can make it up myself.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What a tragedy!

    On second thoughts, let the old Walnut face keep his Tits.

    There's enough smut around to be paying for them.

  13. Sirius
    Devil

    Sport?

    Why do so many people (mainly in the media admittedly) think that "sport" is a synonym for "football"?

    1. MJI Silver badge

      Re: Sport?

      What you do is simple.

      They name a footballist and you reply

      "Haven't heard of them, who do they drive for and what formual?"

      1. Fihart

        Re: Sport?

        The moment I hear someone pronounce footballer as footblr I switch off because I know that what follows will be terminally boring.

  14. Winkypop Silver badge
    FAIL

    See ya old Rupey-boy

    Feel free to place your crap inside a pay-wall.

    Good riddance to you and your atrocious brand of 'churnalism'.

    [waves]

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
      Holmes

      Re: See ya old Rupey-boy

      The Sun has a website?

      On a slightly more serious note...

      Having never visited their site and not being a reader of the paper, putting up a paywall makes no difference to me. Not sure why it should matter to you either. "Good riddance" is a bit harsh for something you don't read anyway.

      1. Winkypop Silver badge
        Thumb Up

        Re: See ya old Rupey-boy

        Agreed.

  15. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Coat

    Murdoch "unrecognisable as part of the Daily Mail".

    He's seems to be saying it like that was a bad thing.

    Personally I think it appeals very well to the desires of may core Daily jailbait Mail readers.

  16. Simon Harris
    Joke

    Who needs The Sun online....

    ... when you've got such high quality news stories on Yahoo! News! for free to compete with it!

    Joke Alert, because as reporting standards go, both are!

  17. El Presidente
    FAIL

    I've been part of the 24 hour news cycle

    It's 98% utter crap, mostly just for the sake of it.

    Only about 2% of what is presented as 'news' actually matters to the average person, the rest of it is Gonzo rubbish, journalists opinion, sport and sleb gossip. All of which is there to please advertisers and owners.

  18. Will Godfrey Silver badge
    Happy

    Just remember..

    Looking directly at the sun is bad for your eyes.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Windows

    If i want to read a comic

    I'll subscribe to Viz!!!

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Does this mean

    If the Sun is behind a paywall and people visit it, it won't let them out ? Oh joy ! All those Sun readers removed from teh interwebs at a stroke :)

    1. Simon Harris

      Re: Does this mean

      Ahh, now I understand. Unlike every other paywall, with The Sun paywall you have to pay to be let out!

  21. Tezfair

    can't remember the last time I read a newspaper

    Why pay for yesterdays news when the bbc news website does a respectable job for free*

    *tv license acknowledged

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