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Suburban Life Publications — the parent organization of this website and its affiliated newspaper — has begun charging to view certain content on its website.
This development reflects the growth of the newspaper’s unique digital offerings at mysuburbanlife.com over the past several years.
“Long gone are the days when our website was merely a digital copy of the newspaper,” said Mark Colosimo, executive editor of Suburban Life Publications. “Today, they are really separate and distinct publications — with our website focused to chronicle what’s happening around town every day and our weekly newspaper focused to provide in-depth context, analysis and personality.
“Much of the website will remain free, however, and the premium level is set in such a way that allows people access to a lot of content before a subscription is required.”
Click here for FAQs on the changes.
Suburban Life Publications, owned by GateHouse Media, is among the company’s first to adopt a subscription model for its website.
“Mysuburbanlife.com offers a more robust online news report than ever before,” said Brad Dennison, vice president of GateHouse Media’s News & Interactive Division. “We are serious about creating a model that sustains the important service and journalism we provide to our communities, and we think this is a very fair way to begin to accomplish that.”
Visitors to any of the mysuburbanlife.com community websites get unlimited access to their town’s homepage as well as the breaking news, obituary, weather, multimedia, photo and calendar sections.
Most other articles on the website — including general news, sports, opinions, entertainment and lifestyle — fall into the premium category.
After reading 20 premium articles, users are asked to pay a monthly subscription to gain unlimited access for the site.
Occasional visitors to the website probably won’t know the subscription system even exists. Heavier users who visit the website several times a day — as well as those wanting full access to all the content areas — would have to pay.
Newspaper subscribers can get full access to the website for $1.50 a month or $14.95 a year. Others can get full online access for $4.95 a month or $49.95 a year. Both annual subscriptions give two months free.
Click here for FAQs on the changes.
Offering free access helped to build the website into a dominant online provider of local news. But as the site has grown with unique digital offerings, so have the costs needed to maintain and expand it.
Suburban Life Publications — the parent organization of this website and its affiliated newspaper — has begun charging to view certain content on its website.
This development reflects the growth of the newspaper’s unique digital offerings at mysuburbanlife.com over the past several years.
“Long gone are the days when our website was merely a digital copy of the newspaper,” said Mark Colosimo, executive editor of Suburban Life Publications. “Today, they are really separate and distinct publications — with our website focused to chronicle what’s happening around town every day and our weekly newspaper focused to provide in-depth context, analysis and personality.
“Much of the website will remain free, however, and the premium level is set in such a way that allows people access to a lot of content before a subscription is required.”
Click here for FAQs on the changes.
Suburban Life Publications, owned by GateHouse Media, is among the company’s first to adopt a subscription model for its website.
“Mysuburbanlife.com offers a more robust online news report than ever before,” said Brad Dennison, vice president of GateHouse Media’s News & Interactive Division. “We are serious about creating a model that sustains the important service and journalism we provide to our communities, and we think this is a very fair way to begin to accomplish that.”
Visitors to any of the mysuburbanlife.com community websites get unlimited access to their town’s homepage as well as the breaking news, obituary, weather, multimedia, photo and calendar sections.
Most other articles on the website — including general news, sports, opinions, entertainment and lifestyle — fall into the premium category.
After reading 20 premium articles, users are asked to pay a monthly subscription to gain unlimited access for the site.
Occasional visitors to the website probably won’t know the subscription system even exists. Heavier users who visit the website several times a day — as well as those wanting full access to all the content areas — would have to pay.
Newspaper subscribers can get full access to the website for $1.50 a month or $14.95 a year. Others can get full online access for $4.95 a month or $49.95 a year. Both annual subscriptions give two months free.
Click here for FAQs on the changes.
Offering free access helped to build the website into a dominant online provider of local news. But as the site has grown with unique digital offerings, so have the costs needed to maintain and expand it.
Adopting a website subscription system isn’t entirely new. Several publications across the country are doing so, including The New York Times and The Dallas Morning News. Some, such as The Wall Street Journal, have charged online readers a subscription fee for years.
Meanwhile, mysuburbanlife.com is working on other ways to deliver news. Not long ago, it launched a mobile site — m.mysuburbanlife.com — designed for smartphones and other portable devices that offers a basic news package for free.
“Our commitment to serving the community is deep,” Colosimo said. “For years, we accomplished that objective with a printed newspaper. Then came a complementary website and its subsequent evolution into a standalone publication with unique, compelling information. Now, we’re adjusting to a mobile world where local content can be yours from anywhere and at any time.”
If you have any questions, please contact Executive Editor Mark Colosimo by email here or by phone at (630) 368-8914.
