Re: Why now
That's the only way they can sell papers anymore though, because most people read the news online or if they do read a paper it's The Metro because it's free when you're a commuter.
I read The Metro myself when I'm using public transport, but I'm not going to the effort of going to the local station to grab a copy of a morning the rest of the time.
It's also why the newspapers love to demonise the BBC. They don't (and in fact can't) charge for the news website. The arguments for and against the content of their news site is for another discussion, but the BBC are providing for "free" (as part of the license fee) what the newspapers are charging for.