I think there's an understandable case to be made for the spending (when your future hinges on your digital properties, you can't really blame management for be

I think there's an understandable case to be made for the spending (when your future hinges on your digital properties, you can't really blame management for being scared and wanting outside advice - and lots of it.) But it's hard to see how the Times can work this out, and it's worth remembering that the paywall is a desperate attempt to do this. Desperate people tend to pay more for even the simple things. There aren't any models worth using - if the Times is to get this right, it has to invent one on its own dollar. Is there hope? Monday Note's Frédéric Filloux thinks that the NYT can be a digital-only enterprise: http://www.mondaynote.com/2011/03/27/the-nyts-melting-iceberg-syndrome/ http://www.mondaynote.com/2011/03/27/the-nyts-melting-iceber... Let’s stop a moment and behold the printed New York Times’ true gem: its Sunday edition. It changes everything in our look at the paper’s digital equation: - Sunday circulation is 54% higher than on weekdays (1.35m vs. 877,000). - It’s an expensive package: $5.00 in New York, $6.00 elsewhere in the country. - Sunday copy sales bring five times more money than any weekday. - Advertising-wise, some analysts say the Sunday NYT accounts for about 50% of the paper’s entire advertising revenue. He suggests that it cuts out its daily paper, keeps the SundayEedition cashcow, and switch everything else to digital-only. But it takes a lot of courage to do something so drastic. Till then, $40 million seems regrettably understandable - the price of being scared and unsure of one's future.