Transaction costs, including credit card fees, are a major hindrance to micropayment plans under consideration by the news industry, which is why Google’s proposal could be appealing. Of course, newspaper companies that have frequently accused Google of leaching off their revenue might be loathe to participate in a joint venture.
We envision the typical scenario to be where a user pays a monthly fee for access to a wide-ranging package of premium content. One example of a “package” might be full access to the WSJ [Wall Street Journal]; another “package” might include the top 10 business publications. Google believes that there is real power and benefit to publishers in providing these sorts of broad, multi-publication access passes.
