Reader view solves the ugly ..
It sounds like the point of it is to try and get people to pay, if they can and if they want to, without compromising the product experience.
They _want_ to give this away for free, but also want to be able to cover the costs. Getting rid of the "ugly" doesn't really take money away from them if you were never going to pay in the first place.
I don't see this as a solution, and especially if a site offers RSS.