The Fountain Hills Times website (fhtimes.com) is gearing up to move to a metered model beginning in early February.

When the new model goes into effect, readers will have access to a set number of free articles each month. After that number has been reached, a reader may continue to peruse an unlimited number of articles at a rate of $5 for 30 days.

According to Publisher Brent Cruikshank, one of the primary goals of this shift is to make more news available to more readers in more ways than ever before.

“If you take a look at our website right now, you’ll see a selection of stories from the current week’s edition, as well as any breaking stories that may have popped up in the past day or two,” Cruikshank said. “In our eyes, that’s simply not good enough. We want our readers to have access to all of the local news from as many sources as possible.”

For The Times, that means a shift to providing more content directly through the website, which is why a metered model is being adopted.

Under the new model, the majority of content printed in the weekly edition of The Times will be made available throughout the week online at fhtimes.com. After a monthly allotment of free articles has been reached, visitors will be asked to subscribe to the website if they wish to continue reading.

“We feel that our coverage of the community is of a high quality and valuable to those who want to stay in the know,” Cruikshank said. “We are a business, but we believe that the barrier for entry for those seeking news should be as low as possible.”

To prepare for the metered model, The Times is increasing the content available online starting this week.

“Our hope is that, once readers see the amount and quality of the content our staff provides on a weekly basis, they’ll agree that this shift to a metered structure is the right call,” Cruikshank continued. “But we also want to work with our readers to hammer out the details. While more and more publications have introduced a metered system over the past decade, we want to make sure our own model is right for our readers.”

At launch, in order to make the transition as seamless as possible, the number of free articles available at fhtimes.com will be a bit higher than seen at peer news sites. Over time and based on data gathered from reader engagement, the number will lower until a final “meter” is determined.

“It’s a work in progress but, in the end, the price is going to be $5 for 30 days of content,” Cruikshank said. “So when you hit your allotment of free articles for the month, you will then be prompted to sign up and pay $5 for 30 days of unlimited access. You can do that for one month, or you’ll be able to set up a recurring subscription.

“This move is also spurred on by a desire to give more options to our advertisers so, again, they can reach more members of our community than ever before.”

Cruikshank said he looks forward to working with the community in order to find the “right fit” for Fountain Hills.

“If you read the physical paper or have a digital subscription, this shift won’t have an impact on you,” he added. “But if you’re the type of person who prefers to drop by fhtimes.com for the news, we want to make sure that you have access to all of it.”

See the editor’s column on Page 6A for additional background information on the upcoming shift to a metered online model.