If they can get 50,000 pledged subscriptions of $4.99 a month by April 23, a group of news folks from the now defunct Rocky Mountain News will be cleared to launch an online news publication.
According to the AP, ex-Rocky staffers have backing from 3 Denver entrepreneurs. InDenverTimes.com would go live on May 4 if they meet the subscription goal. 30 former Rocky writers, editors and a cartoonist would be the publication’s staff. Steve Foster, former assistant sports editor for interactive, would be managing editor.
The site would offer some news for free, but subscribers who commit to paying the $4.99 a month for a year would get extra features. With no printing and distribution costs, putting out the online publication will be much cheaper, although no projected budgets have been outlined yet.
Could this model succeed? Apparently the team had 110 subscribers within the first hour that In Denver Times started taking orders, most of them for a full year. Organizers say 50,000 pledges should be enough to sustain the publication for a year. That would be just slightly under $3 million dollars. Let’s hope they reach their goal!