PENINSULA DAILY NEWS began a gradual introduction Monday of its new digital subscription system for its website, www.peninsuladailynews.com.
“We’re going at this slowly, testing as we go, making sure all the pieces work,” said John Brewer, PDN publisher and editor.
PDN print subscribers will get instructions at the website this week on how to get free access.
There also will be information prompts about digital-only subscriptions.
Cost is about 26 cents a day for an annual digital-only subscription, or 30 cents a day for a month-to-month subscription after 99 cents for the first month.
“We are asking frequent users of the website to now join with those who pay for the print PDN to help support our local journalism, to help support the news-gathering they enjoy and which, until now, they’ve been getting for free,” said Brewer.
If you are a subscriber to the print PDN, you will get a password that will allow full and free access to articles, photos and news story archives on your computer, smartphone and tablet.
PDN has two print subscription plans — Sunday through Friday and Friday and Sunday — and both include unlimited free access to the www.peninsuladailynews.com.
If you do not subscribe to the printed PDN, you will have free access to a set number of local articles every month.
The system will begin with 20 free articles in April, and if you exceed that limit, you will be asked to become a digital subscriber.
You will be offered a 30-day digital-only trial subscription for 99 cents.
After the trial, plans will start at $7.95 a month for an annual digital-only subscription.
The PDN reaches more than 40,000 print readers every day and delivers more than 1.6 million website impressions each month for news and online advertising at www.peninsuladailynews.com, the North Olympic Peninsula’s No.1 most-visited website.
Previously, all content at the website was available free.
Many items on the PDN website will remain free to all users at all times.
Urgent news stories of community importance, classified and display ads, obituaries, videos, the homepage, the heavily used online Peninsula Calendar and Peninsula Poll, Hot Links, special news sections and PDN customer service pages will be placed outside the paywall, meaning they won’t count toward a user’s free monthly access limit.
Also unaffected for now will be the PDN’s e-Edition, a page-by-page electronic replica edition that operates under a separate subscription program. But plans are to allow e-Edition subscribers to get free website access, too.
To begin a print PDN subscription, phone 360-452-4507 or 800-826-7714, or visit https://secure.peninsuladailynews.com/subscriptions.
For more information, or for questions or suggestions, contact Brewer at 360-417-3500 or jbrewer@peninsuladailynews.com.
