The New York Times Announces TimesSelect - New Online Offering to Laun

The New York Times Announces TimesSelect - New Online Offering to Launch in September

    Business Editors

    NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 16, 2005--The New York Times announced today a new online offering called TimesSelect, which for a modest fee will provide exclusive access to Op-Ed and news columnists on NYTimes.com, easy and in-depth access to The Times's online archives, early access to select articles on the site, as well as other exciting features.
    While most of the news, features and multi-media on NYTimes.com will remain free and available to users, the work of Op-Ed columnists and some of the best known voices from the news side of The Times and The International Herald Tribune (IHT) will be available only to TimesSelect subscribers beginning in September. Home-delivery subscribers will automatically receive TimesSelect as part of their benefits. TimesSelect will be priced at $49.95 for an annual subscription.
    "This is a great offering," said Martin Nisenholtz, senior vice president of digital operations. "TimesSelect combines the insights and ideas of distinctive voices from The Times and IHT with seamless access to our archives in an unprecedented way and at a terrific price point. At the same time, by keeping the majority of the site free, we will continue to scale the business through strong advertising growth."
    This offering marks an important step forward in the Company's overall digital strategy. Since the Times Company launched its digital operations in the mid 90s, it has had three business objectives for them - profitability, scale and revenue diversification. In 2001 the Company's digital properties achieved profitability and earlier this year, the acquisition of About, Inc. increased their scale. The launch of TimesSelect further diversifies their revenue base.

    TimesSelect's features include:

--	Special Voices - Access to some of the most influential and insightful voices today, including David Brooks, Maureen Dowd, Tom Friedman, Bob Herbert, Nicholas Kristof, Paul Krugman, Frank Rich, John Tierney, Dave Anderson, Peter Applebome, Harvey Araton, Dan Barry, Clyde Haberman, Gretchen Morgenson, Joe Nocera, Floyd Norris, Joyce Purnick, William Rhoden, Selena Roberts, George Vescey, Roger Cohen, and John Vinocur.
--	TimesPast - Easy and in-depth access to The Times's extensive archives.
--	Exclusive Multi-Media - Unique features for TimesSelect subscribers including audio and photo essays, video and podcasts.
--	TimesFile - A new tool that helps readers tag and organize articles from The Times.
--	Ahead of The Times - A first look at articles that will appear in sections such as Real Estate, The New York Times Magazine, Travel and Sunday Arts.
--	TimesNewstracker - An e-mail alert that enables readers to track news important to them. This successful product is currently sold separately but will be included as part of this new suite of benefits.

    The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading media company with 2004 revenues of $3.3 billion, includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 16 other newspapers, eight network-affiliated television stations, two New York City radio stations and more than 40 Web sites, including NYTimes.com, Boston.com and About.com. For the fifth consecutive year, the Company was ranked No. 1 in the publishing industry in Fortune's 2005 list of America's Most Admired Companies. The Company's core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.

    This press release can be downloaded from www.nytco.com

--30--JTP/ny*

CONTACT: The New York Times Company Catherine J. Mathis, 212-556-1981 mathis@nytimes.com or Toby Usnik, 212-556-4425 usnikt@nytimes.com

KEYWORD: NEW YORK INDUSTRY KEYWORD: PUBLISHING INTERNET E-COMMERCE PRODUCT SOURCE: The New York Times Company

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