Today in Denver, a group of journalists who worked at the Rocky Mountain News announced their intent to start a new site funded in part by paid subscriptions. The idea is to offer free, ad-supported content, but subscribers who pay $4.99/month would get access to expanded content, including columns, interactive features, feeds to mobile devices and customizable content. Organizers say they won’t pull the trigger to launch the new site, InDenverTimes.com, until they have commitments from 50,000 people to become paid subscribers. I hate to say it, but Denver has some very strong online competition — The Denver Post and 9News.com, to name a couple — and I think 50,000 is a very tall order.
Meanwhile, here in Seattle, a group of PI reporters is thinking about launching their own site, too. Again, Seattle still has a newspaper (SeattleTimes.com) and some tough local TV competition (KING5.com). You can see their wiki on the project right here.
