In an attempt to move away from ad-based-only revenue Yahoo! Friday confirmed that it will start charging membership fees for its popular dating service starting October 3.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based online media company says users will still be able to scan the listings, post personal ads or reply to posts on its Yahoo! Personals page free of charge, but if you want to initiate a conversation with someone who has an ad, you're going to have to cough up $19.99 a month.

The price also includes membership in the company's ClubConnect service, which includes posting a photo of yourself and a personal profile.

Yahoo! is discounting three month memberships for $42.95 or you can pay a mere $89.95 for one year, plus one month free.

The company says it expects to offer a premium personals service, called EnhancedAd. For $4.95 per ad, users will get priority placement, more tools to customize their ads, as well as space to post five photos rather than the usual one.

Other companies offering dating services include Match.com, Dating.com and Lovesites.com.

Reuters helped contribute to this report.

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