Pay for Cecil Hurt online now?

TiderB

All-American
Dec 18, 2002
3,604
84
167
Birmingham, AL
I don't think this move's going to work out for the T News. He'll just be read by fewer people. I know I don't represent everybody, but I just can't imagine paying money for extra content. There's so much free content available out there now, how much more do you need?
 

TideEngineer08

TideFans Legend
Jun 9, 2009
37,629
34,258
187
Beautiful Cullman, AL
Count me among those who consider Cecil Hurt to be one of the state's best sportswriters (among the few who are worth anything).

However, I won't be paying 60 bucks to read his columns either. It may work for the Tuscaloosa News and it's their call to charge, but there are more important things to pay for these days. I believe they made a huge mistake, and I'm not sure Cecil likes it either. Just listen to his interviews on Finebaum (if you can stomach Finebaum) and he readily gives a good summary of his columns.
 

TIDE24

1st Team
Jan 12, 2000
889
389
187
Bartlett, TN
I agree. I love to read him. I believe he is the best writer who covers AL, but I am not going to pay $60 to read it. I will miss his insight.
 

BocaLance

All-American
Oct 18, 2001
2,982
2
157
Douglasville (Atlanta), GA
To be clear, it looks like the $60 is to get the entire T-News online (not just Cecil) - as opposed to certain articles they choose to include and when they decide to post them. The AJC here in Atlanta already does this, and it is being met with poor results.

Sad fact is, if people are not already paying for the ink and paper version of the news, they are not going to pony up the same amount to read it online.

Newspapers were too slow to adapt to the Web, now many are so far behind, they are closing shop altogether.

If reading Cecil's column alone is worth the $60 a year to some, then great for those people. But for someone like me who will not care about the other 99% of what is in the Tuscaloosa News, it is not worth it. Anything big Tide-related will get to us one way or the other.
 

CapstoneTider

Suspended
Dec 6, 2000
7,453
6
0
I think Cecil should move on to bigger media, like he could have done the past 15 years. I will miss him a lot, but he is getting used by the paper, unless he is getting a cut from the profit.

He might be the best sports writer in this states history, and is respected by the fans and his peers a like. Even Finebaum is in awe of the man.

He has been put in a trunk. Sure local readers can still pay and read him, but on the national scale, he is being silenced.
 

rizolltizide

Hall of Fame
Jan 4, 2003
14,816
19
157
58
st pete, fl
Oh, I'm sure Cecil had nothing to do with it. And it's just a stupid shame the The News actually thinks this will work, when in actuality all it is going to do is drive away web traffic after the print subcriber is already gone. I call that a two-time loser.
 

bamacpa70

1st Team
Nov 17, 2003
559
3
142
54
Roanoke, VA
If the entire $60 went to Cecil, I'd pay it. He really should go out on his own, I bet he'd make a whole lot more money and enjoy significantly more freedom.
 

uaintn

All-American
Aug 2, 2000
2,961
329
202
franklin, tennessee, usa
Known Cecil a long time. Like and respect him. If I lived in Tuscaloosa, I'd subscribe to the paper, but wouldn't pay a dollar a month to read the T News on my computer, much less $5. Just served to make my "favorites" list a little shorter. I agree with those who suspect this wasn't his favorite idea. I wonder how bad the financial situation is at the T-News.
 

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