ESPN The Magazine: Take our premium content - please!

For loyal readers of ESPN The Magazine, an ultra-cheap subscription offer that bundles print and online content is terrific news. However, it may not have such pleasant implications for other publishers hoping to wring new revenues out of their digital offerings.

For the next two months, ESPN is inviting current subscribers to renew their subscriptions at a one-year price of $1. That comes out to just four cents an issue for the biweekly title. There are two catches: first, to get the offer, subscribers have to register for ESPN Insider, the premium-content section of ESPN.com. Also, after the year is up, their subscriptions will automatically renew at the normal $26-a-year rate unless they actively opt out.