So basically the model is exactly as you want it, but the price doesn't work. If I was keen on news I'd say 7 USD sounds a lot better to me than 10. Not sure I would pay 10. But also not sure I'd take the offer at 5. It's really hard to price those correctly for the readers. There were times I subscribed to a print computer mag, which was ~5 EUR per month - but I read it cover to cover - wehen I stopped doing that, I stopped my subscription.

I do like your model - but I'm not sure it would work out. Maybe the people who pay 7 USD only read ~20 articles, so you'd only get 3 articles for your 1 USD.

I guess I'd still be much more likely to set up a subscription of 1-2 per month and get a low number of free articles than pay more for "I won't use it anyway".

Edit: Everyone's free to tell me I'm cheap (living in Germany and not in ZA, so I guess the 7 USD per month are more palpable to me) - but it's a matter of worth. If I don't want those 2 coffees per month enough (for 7 USD) I also won't buy them, simple as that.