Reuters introduces digital subscriptions for $1 a week By Reuters

(Reuters) – Reuters News said on Tuesday it will launch digital subscriptions starting this month, joining a crowded market of news organizations charging for online content.

The Thomson Reuters-owned news agency said visitors would have to pay $1 a week to access its site, which has been available for free but requires users to register.

The launch comes after a three-year delay caused in part by a dispute between Reuters and financial data provider LSEG over whether the paywall would breach their news provision agreement. The price is lower than the $34.99 per month that Reuters originally planned to charge in 2021.

Subscriptions will be available first in Canada, followed by parts of Europe and the US, with plans to expand globally, the news agency said in a statement.

The announcement coincided with the launch of CNN’s paywall, which will require some visitors to its website to pay $3.99 a month to access its content.

Reuters and CNN are entering a market crowded with major news organizations that already charge for their content. Among them, financial news rival Bloomberg.com charges $34.99 a month before discounts, while the Wall Street Journal, which in 1996 became among the first to launch a paywall, charges $38.99.

“This new subscription plan ensures that Reuters can extend its award-winning coverage at an affordable price, while allowing us to continue to invest in our reporting and subscriber products,” said Reuters President Paul Bascobert.

Reuters halted plans to launch the paywall in 2021 due to the dispute with LSEG, in what was a setback to its plans to build new revenue streams and raised questions about the news agency’s relationship with its biggest client his

Reuters did not disclose details of the dispute settlement in its statement on Tuesday. LSEG was not immediately available.

Refinitiv, which was rebranded as LSEG last year, accounts for about half of Reuters’ revenue. Reuters derives most of its remaining revenue from its media agency operations as well as its growing events business.

Reuters also licenses text, video, images, data and graphics to media companies, which in many cases provide the content for free to consumers, as well as to technology companies and corporations. It generates revenue from advertising on the site.

In the three months to June 30, Reuters News’ revenue rose 7% on growth in its agency business and a contractual price increase as part of the LSEG deal.

Definitively it was part Thomson Reuters (NYSE:) until private equity firm Blackstone Group (NYSE:) Inc acquired a majority stake in it in 2018. Blackstone and Thomson Reuters later sold Refinitiv to LSEG, closing the deal in January 2021.

As part of the separation, Refinitiv struck a 30-year deal with Reuters that guaranteed annual payments of at least $336 million to provide news and editorial content through 2048.