The New York Times Company is beginning to roll out a paywall, starting with its Worcester Telegram & Gazette newspaper.

In an article this morning, the newspaper outlines it strategy, which looks very similar to the one the Times is looking to roll out next year.

Why have we decided to implement the online charge for local news articles? While there are a variety of reasons, the primary one is obvious: It is expensive to provide the most complete coverage of local news in the many communities we cover across Central Massachusetts and Northeast Connecticut. Our business is labor intensive and the financial support we need to fulfill our mission to you cannot (and in all fairness, should not) be borne just by our print subscribers and advertisers.

The T&G announced earlier this year that it would be moving to a metered model this Summer, and now it has finally made that move. Realistically, expect the NY Times Co. to look at the T&G as a guinea pig for its own metered model

This story is close to your WebNewser editor’s heart, having spent four years in Worcester during college.

The T&G is in a moderately sized New England city, so while the numbers may not scale up perfectly to the much larger Times, it should give the company a general idea of how its web traffic and print subscription rates will be affected.

Will it work? Well, that is the question the entire newspaper world is looking at, isn’t it?