Apparently the Rocky Mountain News Staff’s Online Edition Didn’t Quite Make It
DENVER - Former Rocky Mountain News staffers plan to start an online newspaper if they can get 50,000 paying subscribers by April 23.
That date would have been the News’ 150th anniversary.
The E.W. Scripps Co. shut down the News last month, citing mounting losses.
The founders of InDenverTimes.com say the site will go live on May 4 if they meet the subscription goal.The Web site would be free but subscribers who pay $4.99 a month would get interactive chats, columns and other extras.
The site calls the subscriptions an investment “to encourage a bold, creative effort to continue a vision based on a 150-year Denver tradition.”
InDenverTimes.com includes 30 reporters and editors who worked at the Rocky.
Apparently, there are enough websites out there that are free:
DENVER - The future of a Denver online news venture is uncertain.
It fell short of its subscriber goal, and its backers and staff parted ways.
Kevin Preblud, one of the original investors behind InDenverTimes.com, said Thursday the site attracted just 3,000 paying subscribers, well short of the goal of 50,000.
Preblud says the investors haven’t decided on their next step. But he says the original concept of using 30 staffers from the defunct Rocky Mountain News isn’t viable with that number of subscribers.
David Milstead, one of the former News staffers who planned to work for InDenverTimes.com, says some of the staffers believe they can make the original concept work and are looking for new backers.
The News folded in February. Thursday would have been its 150th anniversary.
Well color me surprised. Do these newspaper folks get it at all?
