Newsday said Thursday it will put most of its online content behind a pay wall beginning next week.

The move makes the Long Island, N.Y., paper the biggest general-interest daily to charge for access to its digital information.

The newspaper said most content of Newsday.com will be accessible only to those who subscribe to the print newspaper or Optimum Online -- or are willing to pay a weekly fee of $5.

Calling the pay wall a "pioneering Web model" in an online post announcing the change, Newsday said Newsday.com will combine the print newspaper's newsgathering capabilities with the electronic distribution capacities of parent Cablevision Systems Corp. It said about three-quarters of Long Island households subscribe to either Newsday or Cablevision's cable TV service, or both.

"We are excited about this model because in addition to a unique ability to immediately reach about 75 percent of Long Island households, we believe the hyper-local approach is right for Long Island," Debby Krenek, Newsday's managing editor and senior vice president/digital, said in a statement.

Some online content will remain free after the Wednesday change, including the home page, weather, obituaries, classified ads, entertainment listings and information about school closings.

There will be "some limited access" to Newsday stories, the paper said.

Nielsen Business Media