New York - The New York Post reported on Tuesday that The New York Times plans to abandon TimesSelect, its subscription service that includes archived stories and opinion pieces, in favor of offering free access to the content.

Citing "a source briefed on the matter," the Post said Times executives decided to end the subscription offering "after much internal debate," and that the shutdown's timing will be dictated by software issues.

"We continue to evaluate the best approach for NYTimes.com," Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis told the Post, declining to confirm the story.

The TimesSelect service, which costs $7.95 per month or $49.95 per year, counted 220,090 subscribers in April and 224,580 in June, The Times told CNET News.com.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/yucae3 (N.Y. Post)

http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9756017-7.html

http://select.nytimes.com/pages/timesselect/index.html