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Starting in early 2011, visitors to NYTimes.com will get a certain number of articles free every month before being asked to pay a flat fee for unlimited access. Subscribers to the newspaper’s print edition will receive full access to the site without extra charge.

But executives of The New York Times Company said they could not yet answer fundamental questions about the plan, like how much it would cost or what the limit would be on free reading. They stressed that the amount of free access could change with time, in response to economic conditions and reader demand.

Still, publishers fear that income from digital subscriptions would not compensate for the resulting loss of audience and advertising revenue.

omments (23)

Furthermore, complaints about releasing data are laughable, because the data is already released, and a virtual trading system has existed for a 13 years without any problems (HSX). Cantor owns HSX, and HSX often predicts movie results more accurately than studio estimates, so the idea that these trading systems are designed around a faulty understanding of the movie industry is laughable. If anything, this is one of the most tested trading systems in the history of this country to ever go live. I cannot think of any other trading system we have that had 13 years of data on before people started trading it for real money.

I have worked in both industries as a futures trader and film producer. The people who criticize this practice don’t understand it. Futures markets where designed to reduce risk, starting with the grain markets a long time ago. If you could lock in a good price for grain and didn’t know what the future would be, but you knew what your costs were, you could lock in a profit while speculators could take on that risk. It’s a great idea for the film biz. There will be fewer box office disasters and more films greenlit because of the influx of investor dollars. Those who don’t want it are nervous that their accounting practices will be scrutinized and they SHOULD be nervous. I say bring this thing on!!