Aside from the earth-shaking changes coming to General Motors and Chrysler this week, another historic epoch begins for metro Detroit.

Today the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News stopped home delivery to millions of subscribers in a bid to revamp its business model in a marketplace where newspapers are either severely distressed, heading into bankruptcy or shutting down all together.  

Hard copies of the paper will still be delivered to homes that want them on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, the busiest days for advertising. Newsstand delivery will continue daily.

The papers are distributing a half-million free copies of the paper today as it and the Free Press move to distributing its content mostly on the Web. The Free Press will produce a two-hour news program on WWJ-TV, the area’s CBS affiliate, beginning in May.

So as the country looks to Detroit to see the future of the auto industry, it will also be looking to the area for the future of the newspaper industry.