Pay model returns

Well, this should be interesting. The Long Island newspaper Newsday will begin charging online readers, a strategy that with the notable exception of the WSJ has failed miserably for daily newspapers. But parent company Cablevision, which bought Newsday last year from Tribune Co. in a $650 million deal, lost money in the fourth quarter, the result of having to take a huge writedown related to the purchase. "Our goal was and is to use our electronic network assets and subscriber relationships to transform the way news is distributed," said COO Tom Rutledge on a conference call with analysts. "We plan to end the distribution of free Web content." (Reuters)