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    Mediatwits #1: NY Times Pay Wall Blues; Rafat Visits Al Jazeera

    by Mark Glaser
    March 18, 2011

    i-afc3c5748f18326500291d421911faad-steveouting.jpg

    Steve Outing

    Welcome to the first episode of “The Mediatwits,” the revamped, longer form weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift’s Mark Glaser along with PaidContent founder Rafat Ali, who is working on a stealth startup. This week’s first beta show was mainly about the new metered pay wall coming to NYTimes.com and its mobile apps. Special guest Steve Outing joined the show to talk about the pay wall as well, expanding on his take on his own blog. Plus, the discussion covered Rafat’s recent trip to visit Al Jazeera in Qatar, and everyone’s take on cutting the cord to cable TV with recent moves by Facebook and Netflix.

    I'll be happy the day when newspapers like the New York Times think digital-first and not just hang onto print revenues." - Steve Outing

    NOTE: The original post of this podcast had a problematic audio mix, so that has been replaced with this audio that includes the guests and replaces the dead air time.

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    mediatwits1revamp.mp3

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    Intro and outro music by 3 Feet Up; mid-podcast music by Autumn Eyes via Mevio’s Music Alley.

    Here are some highlighted topics from the show:

    New York Times pay wall

    2:00: Rafat’s first take on the NY Times metered pay wall

    4:05: Rafat on the echoes of early paid content strategies that birthed the PaidContent site

    6:45: Steve Outing thinks the pay wall price is way too high

    9:00: Mark on the various work-arounds people have used to get NY Times free

    10:40: Steve, Rafat and Mark don’t get any print newspapers delivered

    12:50: Rafat would consider getting Sunday print NY Times, but donate it to someone

    15:40: Steve upset about barriers so less people see NY Times content

    Rafat visits Al Jazeera in Qatar

    19:00: Rafat describes his recent visit

    25:30: Revolution in Qatar?

    28:40: Rafat describes young revolutionary hipsters

    29:50: Al Jazeera director says they take sides for oppressed people

    Update on cutting the cable cord

    31:30: Facebook streams movies; Netflix has original TV show

    32:30: Just confirmed that “House of Cards” show will be on Netflix first

    33:30: Rafat has cut the cord

    34:20: Mark hasn’t cut the cord yet

    35:20: Steve talks about Zediva.com service to watch streaming DVDs legally

    More Reading

    How Much Revenue Can The New York Times Paywall Generate? at PaidContent

    NY Times’ New Pay Model: They Blew It! at SteveOuting.com

    The New York Times’ New Pay Wall Series at Nieman Lab

    Paying for The Times at SXSW by David Carr, NY Times

    INSIDE AL JAZEERA: The Hottest News Network On The Planet at Business Insider

    Facebook to Stream Preseason MLB Games for Free at Time’s Techland

    Done Deal: Netflix To Develop Original TV Show, House Of Cards at PaidContent

    Zediva.com, New Movies Now

    Be sure to vote in the MediaShift poll about the New York Times’ pay wall:


    Mark Glaser is executive editor of MediaShift and Idea Lab. He also writes the bi-weekly OPA Intelligence Report email newsletter for the Online Publishers Association. He lives in San Francisco with his son Julian. You can follow him on Twitter @mediatwit.

    Tagged: al jazeera cord cutting libya new york times paid media paidcontent qatar rafat ali steve outing

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