Interesting to know that the reason why the Times does the cumbersome cancellation process. They may have measured that most readers who cancelled never came back; thus, they made it difficult to cancel. So the losses (revenue/expenses) are less than the easy-cancel-easy-comeback strategy?

There is a cable company in Australia that provides streaming service. When you call for the cancellation, they offer you a half-price for the next three months, customers tend to agree with the offer and may forget to cancel next several months...