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Yahoo to Discontinue Yahoo Plus Premium Bundle

Notifies users that subscription bundle of fee-based premium content and services will end in April.

Juan Carlos Perez, IDG News Service

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Yahoo has notified subscribers to its Yahoo Plus service that the bundle of fee-based premium content and services will be discontinued in April. The move is another indication that such 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 reason such services are losing popularity 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.

'Not Essential'

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 via the broadband packages it offers jointly with telecommunications providers such as AT&T and Verizon Communications.

"It has become clear that Plus was not an essential service for Yahoo users," a spokesperson wrote in an 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 service will end on April 22. After that day, they will be able 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's shutdown for current subscribers is available on Yahoo's Plus Help page.

Yahoo Plus cost $6 per month, unless users signed up for an annual subscription, whose cost equaled $4 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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