We tried charging the customers at Slate . It didn't work. Future experiments may be more successful, and we at Slate encourage others to jump in. But meanwhile, let's look again at this notion that in every medium except the Internet, people pay for the content they consume. It's not really true.
TV is the most obvious case.
A few weeks ago a producer from Nightline contacted Slate while researching a possible show on the crisis of content on the Internet. He wanted to know how on earth we could ever be a going business if we gave away our content for free. I asked how many people pay to watch Nightline. People pay for their cable or satellite hookup, and they pay for content on HBO, but Nightline and other broadcast programs thrive without a penny directly from viewers. There are plenty of differences, of course, and the ability of Web sites to support themselves on advertising is unproven.