Hearst newspapers are more porn-like. They offer subscription periods with bizarre terms (3, 7, or 13 weeks) make it difficult to pay without a credit card, and forget to tell you that certain days count as multiple papers because of some special insert. If you make the mistake of giving them your credit card, you must cancel in a narrow window, and renewals are usually timed to skip credit card cycles so you don’t see a charge every month.
I am a weirdo who actually likes newspapers in paper form, but I gave up on my local paper because of bullshit like this.
I had to call the NYT a number of times to get them to cancel, and it was actually easier to just have it put on a months-long "vacation hold," during which time they didn't deliver. Every time the hold ended, I had to call up again and reinstate the hold. Although this was a hassle, it never occurred to me that it would be difficult to cancel if I were the actual subscriber! I thought it was just a pain because I was the recipient, but not the purchaser.