Users to be charged £1 for a day's access and £2 for a week's subscription for access to both papers' websites

The Times and the Sunday Times are to start charging for content online in June.

Users will be charged £1 for a day's access and £2 for a week's subscription for access to both papers' websites, publisher News International has announced.

The News International chief executive, Rebekah Brooks, implied in a statement that its other titles, the Sun and the News of the World, would follow.

The papers will relaunch their websites in early May and will be available for a free trial period to registered users. Readers can register from today at timesplus.co.uk.

The Times and the Sunday Times are the first UK papers to fully charge for digital content. While a daily payment will give users access to both sites, the weekly subscription will also include an e-paper and new applications. Access to the digital services will be included in the seven-day subscriptions of print customers to the Times and the Sunday Times.

"This is just the start. The Times and the Sunday Times are the first of our four titles in the UK to move to this new approach," said Brooks. "These new sites, and the apps that will enhance the experience, reflect the identity of our titles and deliver a terrific experience for readers. We expect to attract a growing base of loyal customers that are committed and engaged with our titles."

In the latest ABCe traffic figures, Times Online – which includes the Times and Sunday Times – saw its daily users rise 6% to 1.22m, although monthly browsers fell to 20.42m.

Assuming that only 5% of daily users convert to the paywall system – a standard metric for paywalls – that would bring in £1.83m if they each buy a £1 daily pass. At a 10% conversion, it would net £3.66m per month for the two papers. If more chose the weekly pass, the revenues would be lower.

In August 2009, Rupert Murdoch announced that he would introduce charges for all his newspapers, saying that News Corp wanted to prevent readers moving to free sites by making its content better and differentiated from other publishers.

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