SINGAPORE, February 20th – The Business Times, a Singapore Press Holdings’ financial daily, will be introducing a new system for access to its online edition from Monday, March 10th.

Subscribers of the BT print edition will be given passwords to freely access the online edition - they can do so from about 4am Singapore time (8pm GMT) each day. For those who are not newspaper subscribers, free access will be available only after 2pm Singapore time (6am GMT) each day.

Those who are not print subscribers but who wish to access BT Online between 4am and 2pm will have to pay for an online subscription. The charges are $15 for three months' subscription, $28 for six months or $48 for a year.

Other BT Online services, such as BT Markets, which provides stock market information, will remain free throughout the day.

Mr Patrick Daniel, managing editor for English and Malay newspapers of SPH, said: “This wasn't an easy decision. The new system was decided after much deliberation and took into account feedback from online readers.”

BT Online is the first among SPH's online products to introduce a print-online package, a limited subscription-based service for early-morning access, and free access after 2pm Singapore time.

BT Online is at http://business-times.asia1.com.sg.

Issued by Singapore Press Holdings Limited.

For further information, please contact:

Irene Ngoo
Assistant Vice President
Corporate Relations
Tel: 6319 1216
Email: ingoo@sph.com.sg


Main board listed Singapore Press Holdings Limited is the leading news and information provider, offering quality content for print, Internet, TV and radio. It is licensed to publish 15 newspapers in the four official languages and six lifestyle periodicals. Everyday, 2.78 million individuals, or 90 per cent of people above 15 years old, read one of 15 newspapers published by SPH while online publication of its six main dailies enjoy some 120 million page views a month. SPH has ventured into the broadcast medium and operates two popular free-to-air TV channels, Channel U in Chinese and Channel i in English.