Star restores free Web site
HARLINGEN — Valley Morning Star will restore free access to its Web site April 1, making its local news and sports available to more online users by ending an eight-month run as a pay site, Publisher Tyler Patton said Friday.
The Star will drop online subscription fees Thursday to offer increased access to ValleyStar.com after the eight-month test launched by parent company Freedom Communications Inc., Patton said.
“The test and subsequent results went about as expected,” Patton said. “Our mission is to be the primary source of news, sports and entertainment in the communities we serve. While some readers and users gladly paid for our online content, providing free and unfiltered access to our Web site better complements our mission going forward.”
During the eight-month test period, the Web site expanded its photo galleries, increased its news postings and launched daily newsletters that feature top stories to registered viewers, Patton said. All those features will be retained on the free site.
“Now users will be able to get up-to-date on stories and breaking news at no charge,” Patton said.
ValleyStar.com consistently offers its viewers a very high number of news updates, usually second-highest among Freedom Communications’ Web sites and trailing only Freedom’s flagship newspaper, The Orange County Register, said Ramon Rodriguez, the site’s Webmaster.
The Web site also offers e-mail blasts that carry breaking news to registered viewers, Patton said.
During the eight-month test period, the Web site’s pageviews climbed steadily after an initial decline, reaching nearly 1 million in March, Patton said. Monthly pageviews before the test had reached the 1.2 million mark.
The Web site will offer free access to its E-Edition from April 1 to 7 before the product returns to its regular subscription price of $3.95 a month, Patton said. The E-Edition is an online facsimile of the Star’s print pages, in which individual stories
can be enlarged for easy reading.
“It gives access to all the stories and advertising as they appear in print and they can be e-mailed,” he said. “It comes in handy in travel because you can literally flip through the pages on a laptop.”
