For several years, subscribers to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser enjoyed complimentary digital access to the Washington Post via a special “partners program” between the two newspapers.

But yesterday morning, S-A subscribers awoke to find their access to the Washington Post had abruptly ended.

An inquiry to the Post’s Customer Care desk brought this reply:

Thank you for your email. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you.

As of 9/30/2017, the Partner Program has been discontinued, and we are no longer starting new subscriptions as part of this program. Our record shows that your complimentary subscription has expired on 9/30/2018. If you wish to continue your access to award-winning journalism, you may sign up for the $39.00 rate for one year of the Basic Digital Edition by going to the link below:

https://subscribe.washingtonpost.com/acquisition?promo=csr_7939

Once the promotion expires, your subscription will renew at $100.00 for one year, unless you contact us.

Thank you from The Washington Post.

So it appears cutoff wasn’t the fault of the Star-Advertiser. Rather, the Post simply terminated its previous marketing deal.

However, it might have been nice if one of the two newspapers had provided some advance notice of the change.

That said, the deal offered by the Post seems quite generous. Compare to the Boston Globe, which wants $360 for an annual digital subscription. The Star-Advertiser itself asks $17.95 per month (that’s just over $200 per year) for a digital-only subscription, according to a Reddit thread earlier this year.