In a news conference yesterday afternoon, the Philadelphia Media Network, owner of the newspapers The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, announced plans to beta test a subsidized tablet subscription offer to readers this August.
So far the publisher hasn’t named which Android tablet will be offered, or how much the combo deal will cost; those details will be made public in the next 4-6 weeks. However, the blog Liliputing.com attended the event and confirmed that at launch the tablet will be a Wi-Fi only model.
Here’s more info from Liliputing’s coverage:
If you were to buy digital subscriptions to both newspapers and the tablet separately, Osberg says you would end up paying about twice as much. So while final pricing hasn’t been set yet, the idea is that you’ll be able to pay for a tablet and 1 to 2 years of subscription content while spending less than you would to get those things separately. Of course, if you weren’t planning on paying for a subscription, it still might be cheaper to buy a tablet separately. Right now a digital subscription runs about $2.99 per week.
In late August the publisher will launch a limited pilot project in Philadelphia, offering “more than 100, but less than 100,000″ tablets to subscribers on a first-come, first served basis. AdWeek reported this morning that the number might be about 2,000. If that project is successful, the company will offer more tablets in the future.
Read the full post at Liliputing.com (includes video of a partial Q&A as well)
Via The Digital Reader
