Variety, the venerable trade publication that has covered Hollywood for more than a century, is dropping its website paywall and rolling out a new one-day-a-week-only print edition beginning next month.
The paywall, put in place three years ago, is coming down Friday.
“It was an interesting experiment that didn’t work. We look forward to welcoming back longtime Variety readers when the paywall drops March 1,” said Jay Penske, the chairman and CEO of Variety‘s parent company.
The Tuesday-only print publication will debut March 26 and will be augmented throughout the year by several special editions reporting on the industry’s many awards shows and other topics of interest to Hollywood movers and shakers.
“We remain committed to a print edition of Variety and are excited that it will expand in size and scope of coverage,” the paper’s publisher, Michelle Sobrino, said in a story Tuesday on the paper’s website.
Variety has become a legendary fixture in Hollywood since its founding in 1905, but like other traditional print publications has struggled in recent years as news has gravitated to the web.
It was purchased last year for $25 million by Penske Media Corp., which led by Jay Penske, who also owns the popular Hollywood website Deadline.
Penske called the end of Variety‘s paywall “the end of an error.”
