NYT Unbundles Opinion Section, Now Has 8 Subscription Plans

The New York Times announced the creation of NYT Opinion this week, a subscription plan that allows subscribers to access the opinion section of

The New York Times announced the creation of NYT Opinion this week, a subscription plan that allows subscribers to access the opinion section of the Times on the Web and via a smartphone app.That officially takes the NYT’s subscription plan number to eight, with pricing varying from $6 to $45:

$6 /month for NYT Opinion
$8 /month for NYT Top Stories including the NYT Now app
$15 /month for NYTimes.com unlimited access + smartphone apps + NYT Now
$20 /month for NYTimes.com unlimited access + tablet apps + NYT Now
$35 /month for NYTimes.com unlimited access + smartphone and tablet apps + NYT Now
$45 /month for NYTimes.com unlimited access + smartphone and tablet apps + NYT Now + behind-the-scenes look at NYT journalism

But NYT isn’t stopping there — there are plans to launch a subscription plan for the site’s cooking pages, and the company already has separate subscription products for its popular crossword puzzles, priced at $6.95 per month or $39.95 per year.

The Media Briefing claims that NYT is the first newspaper to really unbundle its offerings, although The Economist started the trend in December of 2012, and the Guardian just launched a new subscription app for those users wanting an ad-free experience and News UK just launched a sports app in time for the World Cup.However, NYT Opinion is unique in that it seems to be the first unbundled subscription for the opinion section of a news site. It’s a curious launch since The New York Times didn’t have much success when it tried a similar launch in 2005 with TimesSelect, but the venture failed to take off and NYT eventually shut it down two years later.However, the metered paywall helped offset the criticisms of TimeSelect, and consumers attitudes have changed toward paid content. The New York Times and other newspapers are wise to unbundle its offerings, allowing audiences to gain more access to favorite sections of their choosing, so long as the pricing model makes sense. And NYT was smart with their pricing model above, allowing for only a $2 difference between the opinion only section and all top stories, and only $9 more for full, unlimited access.What do you think? Is The New York Times smart to unbundle its sections for consumers who want to pay for some content but not all?