Germanernet company T-Online yesterday announced that it has started changing its users for the type of content that it once provided free. It is the latest company to make such a move in a bid for profitability, a trend being followed by web site TheEndOfFree.com.

T-Online, which operates as both an ISP and portal, is a division of Deutsche Telekom AG with over 8 million subscribers. According to The Wall Street Journal, it will be offering users an on-line computer game at €1.50 and on-line fitness videos at €1.60. Its financial newsletter will cost €17.90 per month or €2.90 for a single issue. (€1.00 currently equates to £0.61.)

The End of Free is a web site "chronicling free to fee and beyond". Contributions to the site quote various press releases and media articles from March 2001 onwards which chart the changes in numerous sites as they explain their conversions from free to fee-based content and services.

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