Local news can no longer rely on advertising to pay the bills. We see this as a good thing, because the reading experience is much better without third party ads that block the content you want to see and video ads that play automatically.
Instead of advertising*, the Peninsula Chronicle relies on our readers. We offer two ways for readers to pay for the news: Purchase access to individual articles or subscriptions that give you access to everything.
We use Transact to process payments for individual articles and subscriptions. A subscription will get you all of our news instantly, in addition to our gratitude.
Why Do I have to Pay?
The Peninsula Chronicle provides local business news and information – news that media outlets can’t or won’t cover. Our site was completely free to access while we demonstrated that our accurate and unbiased coverage was valuable to our readers.
The Chronicle does not have pop-up ads or limit you to just a few articles before requiring that you purchase expensive subscriptions. We cannot continue to operate without readers’ financial support.
We know that we our coverage is important to you – we see it in our web traffic. We believe that quality news and information is worth paying for, and you’ll support our coverage by paying for it.
What is Transact?
Transact is a new micropayment processing service created just for publishers.
The Peninsula Chronicle uses Transact to collect payments to unlock individual articles on our site, and for yearly subscriptions.
Think of Transact as your online debit card. Once you have created and funded your account, you use it to unlock content you want to see on Peninsula Chronicle and other publishers using the Transact service.
Transact uses the same web security as banks and will never share your information.
Learn more about Transact.
How to Use Transact
1. Create a free account. Only information required to service your account is collected.
2. Fund your account. Transact accepts all major credit cards, debit cards and Apple Pay. To get you started, Transact gives you $3 in free credit when you sign up.
3. Stay logged into Transact, and visit Peninsula Chronicle in a new tab.
4. Click on stories you’d like to read. Some articles on our site are free and others require payments to unlock – for as little as 5 cents.
5. To unlock an article, click on the “Purchase” button to get instant access. Your payment will automatically be deducted from your Transact account. If you subscribe, you don’t have to unlock articles.
6. Add more funds as needed. Small amounts – a few dollars at a time – will unlock several articles.
7. Any articles you unlock will show up in your Purchase History in Transact.
*- We do plan to have sponsors, which is sort of an ad, but they will just be static displays that show you the local businesses that also support the Chronicle.
Please send us a note at info@peninsulachronicle.com if you have any questions, comments or concerns.
Subscription Options:
24 Hour Pass: $0.99* (only $0.11/day if you subscribe for a year)
Monthly: $4.99 (only $3.33/mo if you subscribe for a year)
Year: $39.99
Yes, we prefer that you get a one-year subscription instead of a one-month subscription. A yearly subscription is your best value (a savings of nearly $20 compared to a monthly subscription). A yearly subscription also helps us plan for coverage and improvements in the long term.
* – Imagine if you bought a newspaper, and you not only got all of that days’ news, but all of the news that was published before then.
