New York - The New York Times announced on Monday that it will shutter its TimesSelect subscription service, which had kept older articles and its roster of op-ed writers in a pay-to-view area of its website, opting instead to open its archives to potential advertising revenue.

The TimesSelect service cost users $7.95 per month or $49.95 per year, and was free to print subscribers and some students.

As of Wednesday, the Times' entire archives between 1851 and 1922, and from 1987 to the present will be available for free, along with some select content from 1923-1986.

The company said that TimesSelect, which was launched in September 2005, had met expectations, drawing 227,000 paying subscribers out of a total of 787,000 overall, and generated about $10 million a year in revenue.

The first sponsor of the opened areas on NYTimes.com will be American Express, the company said.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/18/business/media/18times.html