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The New York Times (NYT) announced its subscription Internet service TimesSelect will be ending as of Wednesday. The Times launched the service two years ago.

Subscribers to the service paid either $7.95 monthly or a one-time yearly fee of $49.95. For that readers could read certain columnists like Thomas Friedman, and others, not available to general readers.

With the online ad model growing, this move by the Times shows they believe their existing customer base should make up for the loss of revenue through advertising.

"We now believe by opening up all our content and unleashing what will be millions and millions of new documents, combined with phenomenal growth, that that will create a revenue stream that will more than exceed the subscription revenue," said the Web site's Vice President and General Manager Vivian Schiller.

Revenue for TimesSelect stood at about $10 million yearly. There was no comment by Schiller on how much she thinks dropping the subscription model will help generate revenue.

If other companies can be used as an example, it will take time to make up for the subscription losses, probably the reason she didn't want to comment. There's a lag when transferring revenue from subscription to ad-supported models.

While the subscription model is being dropped, not all archived stories will be free. The company will offer free access to stories from 1987 on. Those in the public domain from 1923 to 1987 will still be offered free as well. Other articles in that same time frame will be offered for a price; either individually or bundled in 10 articles.

There was no word on the archives from the Times which go back to 1851, which were offered with the subscription service.