Yahoo notified Yahoo Plus subscribers on Wednesday that their subscription bundle of fee-based premium content and services will be discontinued in April.
The move is another indication that these "bring your own broadband access" packages, while popular a few years ago, are losing their appeal.
Yahoo Plus includes a variety of premium security, e-mail, entertainment and storage software and services. Launched in December 2003, it doesn't include Internet access, as it is aimed at users who already have a broadband connection.
A big part of the reason that such services are losing appeal is that broadband subscriptions have fallen in price, while also gaining many complementary software and services that have been the staple of "bring your own access" packages.
In confirming the decision to put Yahoo Plus out to pasture, Yahoo alluded to this market shift, which the Sunnyvale, California, company is taking advantage of with the broadband packages its offers jointly with telecommunications providers such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc.
"It has become clear that Plus was not an essential service for Yahoo users," a spokeswoman wrote via e-mail. "The decision to close Plus allows us to focus on continuing to improve the services our users most want and use, such as our co-branded Internet access services with AT&T and Verizon."
Yahoo Plus subscribers were notified on Wednesday that the subscription service will end on April 22. After that day, they will be able to continue to use their Yahoo Plus ID to access similar but free -- and consequently less advanced -- versions of some Yahoo Plus services. Users will also stop receiving updates for premium Yahoo Plus software, such as the antivirus product from CA Inc. A detailed explanation of the effects of Yahoo Plus' shutdown for current subscribers can be found here: http://help.yahoo.com/plus/.
Yahoo Plus cost US$5.95 per month, unless users signed up for an annual subscription, which cost $3.95 per month. Users will be reimbursed on a prorated basis for the months left on their subscriptions beyond the shutdown date.
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