Last month, the New York Times Co. (NYT) said it was considering charging for mobile subscriptions to its flagship paper -- and now it seems the tough times has forced the company to consider charging for access to its Web site.

In a survey emailed to print subscribers Thursday, the newspaper asked if the subscribed readers would be willing to pay $2.50 a month for access to the site’s news, which is currently free. The survey said the newspaper “is considering charging a monthly fee of $5.00 to access its content, including all its articles, blogs and multimedia.” The higher fee would be charged to people who access the content online only, while subscribers to the print paper would get a discount.

Ad sales for the publisher’s sites have decreased, falling 8% in the first quarter and 3.5% in the fourth quarter. In May, the Audit Bureau of Circulations released its figures for U.S. newspapers for the six months ending in March, and the New York Times saw circulation drop 3.55%. The cash-strapped Times has already cut back on pay and jobs, but is also pursuing additional sources of revenue.

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CEO Janet Robinson highlighted in a conference call in April that the Times Co. has looked into generating revenue for online content twice before. In 1996, the company charged international users to access NYTimes.com -- and in 2005, Times Select was created.

“As the advertising marketplace, particularly in print, changes, we continue to explore payment models as well as other approaches to generate revenues from our online content,” Robinson said in April’s earning conference call. “Our position as the leading newspaper Web site, and a top five news and information site, is the result of a focus on quality and innovation.”

Martin Nisenholtz, the head of digital operations, said last month the company is likely to charge for mobile subscriptions before considering charging for access to its Web sites

“Mobile offers a better opportunity for paid content,” Nisenholtz was quoted as saying in an interview with Bloomberg News. “For publishers to offer their content for free in the mobile platform forever without getting paid very much money, I don’t think it’s going to be tenable.”