Time magazine is finally taking steps to make reading all of their content as easy as possible for it’s subscribers. In a press release, Time announced on Tuesday that the magazine will be offering an “all-access” subscription that would encompass its magazine, online content, and content viewable on most tablets. This follows Time’s agreement with Apple for subscriber-only content on Time’s free app.
The pricing outlined is what caught us by surprise, with the weekly subscription price costing more than the monthly option and offering less content. If you subscribe for the whole year it will cost you $30 a year, which includes 56 print issues, full online access, and all tablet apps. If you want to pay monthly at $2.99 a month you receive all the same perks, but with a slightly increased price. If you only want a single week of access, you will have to pay $4.99, and for you only get the content on the Time.com website.
By introducing these prices, Time will also introduce paywall up on the Time.com website, so only subscribers can view all the content on the site. The website produces its own content that does not appear in the magazine, and those stories will still be viewable online, but the content that is viewable in the magazine will only be viewable on Time.com to paid subscribers.
The press release only mentions the Apple iPad, HP TouchPad, and Samsung’s Galaxy 10.1 tablet as being compatible with the subscription model. If this list is all inclusive, it leaves out several Android Honeycomb tablets, e-readers such as the Kindle, and BlackBerry’s PlayBook.
This isn’t the first Time Inc. magazine to introduce an “all-access” style pricing structure. Earlier this year Sports Illustrated introduced a similar plan, a likely success if the company is now rolling it out to Time magazine.
