Continuous subscription service

Continuous subscription service is an open-ended subscription business model for magazines and other periodicals. Rather than treat the periodicals as a product, this system regards the subscription itself as an ongoing service. Unlike traditional fixed-term subscriptions, continuous subscriptions are open ended, and will continue to renew automatically until terminated by the customers themselves.
At the heart of the continuous subscriptions service model is a "central agent" that serves as a go-between for the customers and the publishers. The central agent "maintains databases and produces subscription records to provide open-ended subscription services to its customers, while supporting the term-based subscriptions of the commodity suppliers."
When customers order magazine subscriptions through the central agent, they are asked to provide credit card or bank account information, which is stored in a database along with their order information. When payment is due on the publisher's end, the central agent automatically transmits the customer's payment information through a clearing house, thus ensuring that the subscription service is continued. It was first used with TWX Magazine.
Prior to the introduction of continuous subscription service, magazine subscriptions were traditionally perceived as a fixed-term item, which meant they were sold in set, finite amounts (usually one year at a time). When a subscription period ended, it was up to the customers to notify the publishers and let them know if they wanted to continue receiving the title.
In 1996, Synapse founders Jay S. Walker and Michael Loeb introduced the concept of continuous subscription service, which basically took the same business model used by cable television companies, internet service providers, and wireless phone companies. Rather than sign up for a fixed-term subscription, customers could subscribe to the periodicals of their choice for an indefinite period of time. The subscription would renew automatically, and the customers would continue to receive their magazines until they made the choice to cancel their subscription.<ref name=css_patent />
On December 11, 1996, Walker and Loeb filed a patent application for their "method and apparatus for providing open-ended subscriptions to commodity items normally available through term-based subscriptions." Michael Loeb and Synapse Group, Inc. were granted [http://www.google.com/patents/US6014641 U.S. patent #6,014,641] on January 11, 2000.<ref name=css_patent />

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