According to this article, Newsday, which recently required on-line readers to pay a subscription to access its web site, reported that it has a grand total of 35 paid subscribers.  The website cost $4 million to revamp.  The gross revenue from the 35 subscribers would be a whopping $9,000 (assuming they all paid $260 – the $5 per week price for a year).  Newsdsay is also owned by the Dolans.

Sounds like the Newsday meeting went about as well as the Mets press conferences go:

That astoundingly low figure was revealed in a newsroom-wide meeting last week by publisher Terry Jimenez when a reporter asked how many people had signed up for the site. Mr. Jimenez didn’t know the number off the top of his head, so he asked a deputy sitting near him. He replied 35.

Michael Amon, a social services reporter, asked for clarification.

“I heard you say 35 people,” he said, from Newsday’s auditorium in Melville. “Is that number correct?”

Mr. Jimenez nodded.

I found this story so amusing that I had to include it in a post.  How long will it be before the Newsday on-line subscribers exceed the number of Mets season ticket holders.