News Corp. announced that the company has decided to charge the readers of its online British newspapers The Times and Sunday Times newspapers. The company said that the online readers have to pay £1 for the access of one day or £2 for a week from June.

News International Ltd., European division of News Corp., said that in early May the separate Web sites of The Times and Sunday Times will be launched.

The company said that these new web sites will replace the existing ones. News International also said that those new websites will be available for a free trial period to registered customers and from June they will be converted into paid ones.

News International said that the company sees this step as a crucial one towards making the business of news an economically exciting proposition. There were reportedly around 1.04 million readers per day of Times online newspapers in the month of December. However, News Corp said that its other newspapers are not affected by this move of the company.