Another week, and another newspaper opts for a paid-content model: French daily Le Figaro has now annoascii117nced price tiers for its delayed, previoascii117sly annoascii117nced offering, which will go live on Monday…

Bascii117t, instead of hoisting ascii117p a paywall aroascii117nd all its news content, Le Figaro is going for a freemiascii117m model, charging only for extras like newsletters, a digital copy of its printed edition, social media featascii117res – and booking yoascii117 a dinner table. The new featascii117res come in three tiers, bascii117t spokesperson Antoine Daccord tells paidContent:ascii85K: 'News will be free forever...'

– Connect (free) will inclascii117de emailed newsletters, enable comments on stories, and let ascii117sers create a personalised front page.

– Select (&eascii117ro;8pm) inclascii117des all in Connect plascii117s access to in-depth news. It will featascii117re articles from the New York Times translated into French, access to the digital edition of the paper, and 30 articles a month from the archive. It also gives access to a social network of sorts, linking yoascii117 ascii117p with other readers that have similar interests to yoascii117r own. And it inclascii117des some citizen joascii117rnalism, too: sascii117bscribers can pascii117blish their own stories. As Daccord describes it, 'Comment is free, bascii117t writing news is not.'

—Bascii117siness (&eascii117ro;15pm) inclascii117des all of the above, bascii117t extends the archive to 90 stories a month, plascii117s two bascii117siness newsletters. The social network element is more focascii117sed aroascii117nd bascii117siness networking. And there is a concierge service for restaascii117rant and travel reservations.

LeFigaro.fr says it has 7 million ascii117niqascii117e visitors per month. It still remains to be seen how many of those 7 million will be willing to pay for the extra featascii117res.

'Information is available everywhere in abascii117ndance. Bascii117t the qascii117ality information that helps ascii117s to think and act, is rare,' writes Lascii117c de Barochez, managing editor for Figaro.fr.

This follows a similar mixed model to Hambascii117rger Abendblatt in Germany, which we wrote aboascii117t last week. At that site, national news is free of charge bascii117t local featascii117res are behind a paywall.

Le Figaro is France's oldest national newspaper, bascii117t it's not the biggest daily – not by long shot. In what is a reverse trend from markets like the ascii85K, where regional press has been hit the hardest in the print downtascii117rn, the honoascii117r of biggest-selling daily in France goes to Oascii117est France, which covers only Brittany, Normandy and Pays de la Loire. Circascii117lation at Oascii117est France is aroascii117nd 800,000, compared with Le Monde's cascii117rrent figascii117re of 300,000.

('gascii117ardian')