There's a lot of naysayers here: it's been tried, it can't be done, etc. But I have a hard time believing all that. They said the same thing about the music industry. The cable TV industry is going through a huge change now. I think someone can figure this out, and I wish anyone taking this on the best of luck! I think it's something we really need to counter the constant barrage of ads, privacy invasions, etc. that we have to deal with today.
Personally, I'd be happy to have some sort of pay-per-article "account" I could use as-needed. But it's really hard to decide whether something is worth reading up-front. And after-the-fact I'm guessing most folks will just not bother. So I'm not sure how you address that. But again, best of luck to anyone taking this on. I'm rooting for you.
It's good to look at previous experiences that failed, but conditions are ever-changing. Ad clickthrough is down, ad-blockers are up, more media outlets closing. Eventually, it will be advertorial content or subscription. Or some other awful end-state like that. Maybe on the way there there is a point where an alternative model that failed in the past, or a new one, is possible. I like the pay upfront, free returns model, block only abusers. It works for stuff where returns have so much friction, it should work for content.
Personally, I'd be happy to have some sort of pay-per-article "account" I could use as-needed. But it's really hard to decide whether something is worth reading up-front. And after-the-fact I'm guessing most folks will just not bother. So I'm not sure how you address that. But again, best of luck to anyone taking this on. I'm rooting for you.