Another paper wants to try charging

Reuters reported today that Cablevision Systems Corp (CVC.N) plans to charge online readers of its Newsday newspaper. The agency said the move that would make it one of the first large U.S. papers to reverse a trend.

A Newsday rep wasn't immediately available to elaborate on the paper's web plans. Cablevision chief operating officer Tom Rutledge made no-more-free-content remark during a call with analysts.

"Our goal was and is to use our electronic network assets and subscriber relationships to transform the way news is distributed," he said on a conference call with analysts.

"We plan to end the distribution of free Web content," he added.

That should make L. Gordon Crovitz, the columnist with the Wall Street Journal who recently wrote that "information wants to be expensive."

Personally, I liked Mark Ingram's take on the column: "WSJ: We charge, so why don't you."