Many readers know that The New York Times the other day announced that it would no longer have a subscription service for readers who want to read its Op-Ed columnists such as Maureen Dowd, Paul Krugman and Thomas Friedman.

The Times sent out the following email to subscribers:

Dear TimesSelect Subscriber,

We are ending TimesSelect, effective today.

The Times's Op-Ed and news columns are now available free of charge, along with Times File and News Tracker. In addition, The New York Times online Archive is now free back to 1987 for all of our readers.

Why the change?

Since we launched TimesSelect, the Web has evolved into an increasingly open environment. Readers find more news in a greater number of places and interact with it in more meaningful ways. This decision enhances the free flow of New York Times reporting and analysis around the world. It will enable everyone, everywhere to read our news and opinion - as well as to share it, link to it and comment on it.

Beginning today, we will issue refunds to our TimesSelect customers for the unused portion of their subscriptions. (The refund may take a few weeks to appear on your credit card, so please be patient.) If you need to update your billing information, please click here:

https://select.nytimes.com/commerce/jsp/purchase_history.jsp

To thank you for your loyalty, we are offering you complimentary access to Times Reader from now through December 31, 2007. Times Reader is a digital version of The New York Times that looks just like the print version. It is normally offered for $169 annually, and is free to home delivery subscribers. (Please note that Times Reader is available for Windows only, though a version for Macintosh is planned.) For the duration of this complimentary offer, you also have access to our Premium Crosswords as well as the full online Archive, back to 1851. To download Times Reader, click here:

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/timesreader.html

We thank you for your support of TimesSelect, and hope you continue to enjoy The New York Times in all its electronic and print forms.

For more information, including answers to frequently asked questions, click here:

http://www.nytimes.com/marketing/ts

To contact Customer Service, please send an e-mail to ordercs@nytimes.com.

Sincerely,

Vivian Schiller
Senior Vice President & General Manager
NYTimes.com

Now we are waiting for the final decision from Rupert Murdoch, Dow Jones and News Corp. about what will happen to the Wall Street Journal subscription service. I am fairly certain that the decision will be similar to that of The Times. The main reason is simple: an open site means more visitors, more page views and greater revenue.