BostonGlobe.com will continue to be free until mid-October

Globe Staff

The Boston Globe said today it will extend the free trial period until mid-October for its new subscription-only website, BostonGlobe.com.

 The plan was for BostonGlobe.com to start charging for its content tomorrow, but in a memo to Globe employees, publisher Christopher M. Mayer said that the Globe is taking extra time to make technical improvements.

Mayer wrote that BostonGlobe.com has “gotten very positive reviews in the media and among our readers. However, we are extending the free trial period through mid-October, as we implement a few final technical refinements that will help provide a more seamless experience for both users and advertisers.”

BostonGlobe.com launched earlier this month and was to be free to all readers until today. After that, readers would have to pay $3.99 a week to access stories, videos, and other news produced by Globe journalists. Print subscribers won’t have to pay extra to use BostonGlobe.com.

Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage will continue to sponsor BostonGlobe.com’s free trial.

The Globe is keeping Boston.com as a free site and continues to offer breaking news, blogs, photo galleries, sports coverage, and a limited selection of stories from the paper.

BostonGlobe.com combines the newspaper’s print stories with breaking news on a site designed for customers who want premium content they can read on multiple devices, from computers to tablets to smartphones. The subscription site now represents the only online gateway for all of the Globe’s journalism.

The Globe joins other major newspapers in charging for online content as readers and advertisers continue migrating to the Internet. The strategy at the Globe is unique because the paper has decided to splits its news brands -- Boston.com and The Boston Globe -- into two different websites.