The Times of London to charge for website

The Times of London and its sister paper The Sunday Times will charge readers to access the titles online from June, Rupert Murdoch's News International announced on Friday.

Customers will be charged £1 ($1.50, or 1.10 euros) for one day's access and £2 for a week's subscription.

Both titles will launch new websites in early May, replacing the existing combined site, Times Online.

The two new sites will be available for a free trial period to registered customers.

For those who have a newspaper subscription, the price of access to the digital services will be included.

News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks said: "At a defining moment for journalism, this is a crucial step towards making the business of news an economically exciting proposition.

"We are proud of our journalism and unashamed to say that we believe it has value.

"This is just the start. The Times and The Sunday Times are the first of our four titles in the UK to move to this new approach."

News International, a division of Murdoch's News Corporation, also owns The Sun tabloid and Sunday tabloid, News of the World.