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SEARCH RESULTS FOR "SALES" Next big thing? TV-newspaper staff mergers Newspaper and TV newsroom mergers could become the next big thing as profit-pressed publishers and broadcasters seek to cut costs and strengthen their digital presence. The Newsonomics of news in a diversified world The Washington Post Company has been much in the news recently, but not because of its flagship paper. It's making news around its other holdings. It has shed Newsweek, staunching a $30 million annual bleed. More importantly to the company's finances, its Kaplan "subsidiary" has been much in the spotlight, under investigation by the feds, along with other for-profit educators, for fraud around student loans Nine questions on Patch's new push It's Patch day in the news news world, as AOL formally announces the expansion of its network of local sites. It's really a ratification of what we've been hearing, as CEO Tim Armstrong stakes his reborn company's future on professional news content creation, here, specifically local. The number bandied about: $50 million in investment in Patch, resulting in 500 local sites across 20 states by the end of the year. AOL's plan to own your neighborhood AOL's effort to own America's local news, said it has grown to 100 sites in 20 states, up from six sites since the company bought the fledgling news startup in June 2009. AOL also said it hopes to be in 500 communities by year's end. The Newsonomics of TBD's new D.C. news site Thirsting for good news, the welcome given TBD.com by news observers has been a bit overwhelming. In a desert of too-scarce good news about the news business, TBD represents one of the potential oases, like its smaller -- and largely nonprofit -- counterparts from San Diego to Austin to the Twin Cities to New York. News Corp. plans national newspaper for tablet computers and cellphones It's the latest bid by a major media company to build readership using new devices such as the iPad. The new publication would offer short, snappy stories and operate under the auspices of the New York Post. Canceling Que, Plastic Logic works on next-gen e-reader Plastic Logic has revised its product strategy, canceling introduction of its original Que e-reader in favor of development of a next-generation ProReader. The company had planned to ship the thin, lightweight, large-screen Que this summer. TBD: First takes on the launch For a multimedia site, TBD showed some media savvy, lining up a media briefing today, complete with visuals, numerous staffers and a sampling of local bloggers who've joined the TBD Community Network. E.W. Scripps reports Q2 results The E.W. Scripps Company on Monday said total segment expenses for its newspapers were down 3.8% from the prior-year period to $93.4 million. Second-quarter segment profit in the newspaper division was $14.6 million, down 5.6% from $15.4 million in Q2 2009. Help-wanted classified revenue actually turns positive as Lee Enterprises swings to Q3 profit Lee Enterprises Inc. reported a profit for its third fiscal quarter ended June 27 on ad revenue that remained stubbornly on the decline even as it improved from the year-ago quarter. Gannett's whimper & bang show strategies plainly in flux Gannett's second quarter announcements: A whimper and a bang. The whimper comes from its tepid revenue data. The bang from its coincident statement that it is joining its newspaper colleagues in the Yahoo Newspaper Consortium.
The Newsonomics of the dead cat bounce The season's upon us, as newspaper and media companies announce their second-quarter earnings. At least some of the companies will announce: fewer than used to a couple of years ago, as Tribune has gone private (and banko), metros like Philly and Minneapolis have moved to private hands, MediaNews releases less information than it used to, and Dow Jones' results are less decipherable, aggregated within News Corp. news division results. BBC unveils original U.S. news site At a time when many newsrooms are contracting or consolidating, the BBC is growing its editorial operations with an original news site aimed at the American audience. News stocks lag despite dramatic rebound Although the shares of the publicly traded newspaper companies have advanced impressively from their all-time lows 12 months ago, they still are worth on average about a fifth of their value on June 30, 2005. Home delivery cuts working for Detroit newspapers Detroit's two daily newspapers knew they were shoving some readers overboard in an effort to stay afloat when they decided to limit home delivery to just three days a week. Daily News, Inquirer sale plan OK'd by bankruptcy judge A federal bankruptcy judge yesterday approved a plan to bring the Daily News and Inquirer out of Chapter 11 with a sale to a coalition of investment firms, willing to put up $105 million in cash for the newspapers and their Web site, Philly.com. Let's subsidize open broadband, not journalists With an open, robust data infrastructure, entrepreneurs will take care of the rest In 1791, James Madison penned a short essay that foretold a long, and ongoing, financial involvement by government in journalism. Madison said, in part: Whatever facilitates a general intercourse of sentiments, as good roads, domestic commerce, a free press, and particularly a circulation of newspapers through the entire body of the people, and Representatives going from, and returning among every part of them, is equivalent to a contraction of territorial limits, and is favorable to liberty, where these may be too extensive. Report: Newspapers abroad not suffering as badly as American papers The New York Times today sheds light on a new report to be published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which illustrates that newspapers abroad are having a better time of it than American papers. Dallas Morning News workers getting bonuses -- but last year's pay cuts are now permanent Employees at The Dallas Morning News and A.H. Belo's other dailies will receive one-time bonuses that will range between 1.5% and 3% of their base salary -- but the wage cuts imposed last year will be permanent. iPad ads fetching much higher prices for newspapers than online Good news for the news business: Companies are paying newspapers and magazines up to five times as much to place ads in their iPad applications as what similar advertising costs on regular websites. UC DAVIS STUDY The nation's struggling newspaper industry has a future, but it will require a commitment to sweeping change that could include a public-private ownership model and help from organized labor, according to a new University of California, Davis, study. How local TV could go the way of newspapers The tipping point is not yet at hand, but the economics of local broadcasting may begin to unravel as dramatically -- and irretrievably -- in the next five years as they did for newspapers in the last five years. McClatchy CEO Pruitt: End of recession nearing An improving ad revenue picture and growing digital revenue make it clear that "we're much closer to the en of this historic recession than the beginning," Chairman and CEO Gary Pruitt told shareholders at The McClatchy Co.'s annual meeting Wednesday. Yahoo's buy of associated content makes it a publisher, syndicator, wire, ad rep...and more So what indeed is Yahoo? CEO Carol Bartz has been trying to paint the new picture of it not being in Google's space, but being different. Not a search company, to be sure, a media company of some sort, and one that's put many of its eggs into the basket of better and better targeted advertising, down to serving each of us the right ad within 50 milliseconds of the time we hit a web page. New York Times to begin website charges in January The New York Times will begin charging for access to articles on its website in January, Bill Keller, executive editor of the newspaper, said at a dinner for the Foreign Press Association Thursday evening. The Philly watch: Labor, skills and the digital future Over radio, you could practically see the next set of battle lines drawn. Speculation in Philly has it that Hall's first and main task will be dealing with the company's 14 unions. Good Grief! 'Peanuts' licensing sold by E.W. Scripps The E.W. Scripps is selling the licensing rights to Peanuts, Snoopy, Dilbert and all the other characters in its United Media Licensing to Iconix Brand Group Inc. for $175 million, the Cincinnati-based media company announced Tuesday. Scott Heekin-Canady, president of the New York Times Media Group, told the FT that the Times may take its local edition push into 10-15 cities relatively soon. "We're in active discussions for five markets now," he said. Why? Heekin-Canady "cited depressed local economics." US newspaper circulation falls 8.7 percent Circulation continues to drop severely at U.S. newspapers, though the rate of decline slowed from the previous six-month reporting period. Three bidders vying to own Philadelphia Newspapers Billionaire Ronald W. Burkle and a Canadian investment group emerged Friday as players in the forthcoming sale of Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C., the parent company of The Inquirer. Sen. Inouye to ask for antitrust review of Star-Bulletin sale U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye plans to send a letter to the U.S. Justice Department urging a careful review of the sale of the Honolulu Advertiser and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Job offers made to 600 Advertiser employees Most of The Honolulu Advertiser's 600 employees were given job offers yesterday with a management company that will run the newspaper until it is taken over by the owner of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Digital ad share at newspapers hits new low The newspaper industry is falling farther and farther behind in the life-or-or-death mission of shifting its revenue base from print to the interactive media. Part one of an iPad series Nine questions on the tablet and the news industry future The countdown clocks are winding down. The iPad is almost here. THE big question: Can news companies rise to this occasion, taking advantage of the new platform that will plainly be popular with audiences trained by the iPhone, their appetites whetted. Don't believe the hype, broker says: Newspapers have not dropped to rock-bottom prices Some recent high profile newspaper sales have created the impression that all newspaper values are in the basement, which is completely incorrect. Non-profits can't possibly save the news An amazing number of smart and sophisticated people continue to harbor the fantasy that philanthropic contributions can take over funding journalism from the media companies that traditionally have supported the press. Guild ratifies 5-year-plus contract with St. Louis Post-Dispatch St. Louis Newspaper Guild members voted by a better than two-to-one margin this weekend to approve a new contract with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that cuts pay by 6% in the first two and a half years of the five and a half-year agreement. How to calculate what your paper is worth Sliding sales, plunging profitability, contracting credit markets and faltering faith in the publishing business dropped the value of the Daytona News-Journal by 93% in four years. ABC/Healthline: Reconstruction by the dollar and the niche ABC is a big news brand, with formidable old-world and promising new world assets. Yet, its cost structure is way out of line, as it transitions from the old to the new. So we saw it dramatically slice 25% of its newsroom staff just last month. Today, it announced a deal with Healthline, to supply health content and increase its yield on some ad inventory. Papers exiting bankruptcy dump 75% of debt The four newspaper companies that have exited bankruptcy to date have shed three-quarters of their of debt, collectively trimming nearly $2 billion in burdensome obligations. Honolulu Star-Bulletin losing $13 million annually, sales brochure says It doesn't make for the best sell copy, but the information packet being distributed to those interested in buying the Honolulu Star-Bulletin says the paper is losing an average $13.3 million annually on revenue of $17.4 million.
Newspaper workers attend 'somber' meeting on job future Hundreds of employees at Hawaii's two largest newspapers gathered for what was described as a "somber" meeting Sunday night. With their jobs up in the air, workers met with union leaders to get the latest on the newspaper shakeup that was announced a little more than a week ago. Gannett aiding competitor in sale of Honolulu Advertiser? Gannett Co. Inc. and Oahu Publications Inc. (OPI) have reached an agreement for OPI to acquire The Honolulu Advertiser and its related assets, including its Web site, non-daily publications, and Gannett's interest in Hawaii.com -- but a report this weekend by the Advertiser is suggesting the smaller party in the deal is getting some help to do so.
Murdoch's grumpy agenda in N.Y. news war George H.W. Bush, who parachuted to safety when his Navy aircraft was shot down in World War II, marked his 75th, 80th and 85th birthdays by jumping out of planes for the fun of it. A CJR survey finds that magazines are allowing their Web sites to erode journalistic standards Speaking as a card-carrying member of the old media, it has been my observation that virtually every magazine (old media) now has a Web site (new media, a.k.a. digital media), and that the proprietors of these sites don't, for the most part, know what one another are doing. AP Gateway: Learning from AP Mobile AP Mobile -- the news app for the iPhone, Blackberry and Android -- have seen more than 3.5 million downloads, a success of a sort (Tetris: 100 million paid downloads), as AP tried for first time to create one big aggregated product, its own content and that produced its member papers. National advertising revenue's been small, and local advertising -- to be sold by member papers -- never took off. Washington Post quadruples profit on fewer charges The Washington Post Co. said Wednesday that its fourth-quarter profit more than quadrupled, largely because of a big reduction in accounting charges. Its education division also provided a lift, and the publishing segment made money after cutting staff. Scripps swings to Q4 profit on 'improving' revenue decline Newspaper publisher and television broadcaster E.W. Scripps reported a fourth-quarter profit Tuesday of $12.1 million, or 19 cents per share, compared with a loss of $12.62 million, or 24 cents per share, a year ago. MediaNews plans new content, expects more traffic after pay walls There are two provocative elements to MediaNews' paid content plan, which will be tested at two sites, the York Daily Record in Pennsylvania and the Enterprise-Record in Chico, Calif., in April or May: Journos aren't helpless against market forces Without question, there never has been a bigger response to this blog than the one that greeted the piece the other day encouraging journalists to demand to be paid decently for their work. Gannett's 4Q improves as cost cuts offset ad woes Gannett Co. posted its largest profit of the year in the fourth quarter as cost-cutting efforts were aided by a lessening decline in advertising sales. But shares of the biggest U.S. newspaper publisher tumbled after company executives didn't offer any hope for an upturn in newspaper advertising this year. New York Times adds 1,100 Bay Area subscribers The New York Times has nabbed an extra 1,100 Bay Area subscribers after launching its San Francisco Bay Area section last fall, according to Jim Schachter, a senior Times executive. Next for MediaNews: Rolling up ailing dailies Ailing newspapers in Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul and San Francisco eventually could shrink or shut down after MediaNews Group emerges from bankruptcy. The prospect of future seismic shifts in the newspaper industry from Salt Lake City to York, PA, were signaled last week when Affiliated Media, the parent of MediaNews, filed for bankruptcy to eliminate all but $165 million of its $930 million in debt.
A blog published last week noted that the Denver Post had managed to report about an impending bankruptcy filing by the holding company of its parent firm, MediaNews Group, without using the word "bankruptcy" in the headline -- a neat example of spin. Weber confirms he's leaving New West to become Bay Area News Project editor-in-chief Late last year, I was engaged in a conversation by a group of people who are creating a major new non-profit news organization for the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a very interesting venture, and they have recruited me to be the editor in chief of the project.
Apple sees new money in old media With the new tablet device that is debuting next week, Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs is betting he can reshape businesses like textbooks, newspapers and television much the way his iPod revamped the music industry--and expand Apple's influence and revenue as a content middleman. McClatchy's Charlotte Observer is cutting 25 additional jobs Faced with shaky advertising revenues and lingering economic uncertainty, the Charlotte Observer will eliminate 25 full-time jobs, the latest in a string of cuts, the company announced this morning. Chapter 11 bankruptcy pact lets Singleton cut debt Affiliated Media Inc., the holding company for MediaNews Group, and its lenders have agreed on a plan to restructure $930 million in debt, the Denver-based company announced Friday. The agreement swaps debt for equity, retains the current management team and excludes all of the company's media properties. MediaNews holding company to seek bankruptcy protection The holding company of MediaNews Group Inc., the publisher of dozens of newspapers including the Denver Post and San Jose Mercury News, said Friday that it plans to seek bankruptcy protection, the latest in a string of troubled newspaper companies to seek refuge from creditors amid unsustainable debt loads. How long can publishers afford to print? Unless advertising pulls out of its spectacular nosedive and rapidly begins to grow again, publishers may find within a matter of years that they cannot afford to keep printing newspapers. On tablet dreams, schemes and screens of hope Not since a guy named Moses received a tablet have we seen such enthusiasm for the form. The tablet dream -- with its inevitable Apple intrigue and drumbeat of Amazon/Apple war -- has rekindled interest in digital publishing, providing hope for magazine and news industries pummeled mercilessly over the last decade. Confessions of an ex-publisher I don't subscribe to the newspaper my family sold to a chain in the mid-1990s. While I miss the New York Times crossword puzzle, I finally stopped my subscription, because I really wasn't interested in reading the generic news that has replaced the community coverage we used to provide. Adding fees and fences on media site Over more than a decade, consumers became accustomed to the sweet, steady flow of free news, pictures, videos and music on the Internet. Paying was for suckers and old fogeys. Content, like wild horses, wanted to be free. Hearst Newspapers president: 'Our efforts at transformation have just begun' Hearst Newspapers president Steve Swartz's year-end message to employees cited "an exciting new level of cooperation" among media companies, and described how initiatives to set payment and technology standards "promise to put Hearst at the center of our industry's digital transformation." Singleton praises Pioneer Press, but cuts still loom Like employees throughout Denver-based MediaNews Group, Pioneer Press staffers received a cheery end-of-year memo from CEO Dean Singleton and President Jody Lodovic. The big news: Debt-racked MNG pledges a late-winter 2010 financial restructuring. Strupp: My top 10 newspaper biz stories 2009 Another year of changes for the newspaper industry, not to mention E&P. We saw mobile sprint forward, print decrease, employees give back, and some familiar faces depart. Still, the news is being delivered and the newsrooms continue to hum, in most places, even at reduced volume. Sacramento’s last daily newspaper seeks more concessions from union The McClatchy Co. is making money, thanks to deep cutbacks and layoffs and a marginally improved economy. New report on newspapers: Just hang on for another year! What are publishers' expectations for 2010? Not as bad as one would think according to an outlook report from Kubas Consultants that polled 500 newspapers executives in November to get their thoughts on future advertising and strategic initiatives. The daunting reality facing newspapers If chief executives get the big bucks for their ability to put the best face on bad situations, then newspaper bosses really earned their pay this week at the annual UBS media conference in New York. Pruitt upbeat on McClatchy: debt cut, all papers profitable McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt delivered an upbeat, if short, presentation to analysts and investors this morning during the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York. Hearst plans digital magazine, newspaper service Publisher Hearst Corp. plans to launch next year a service called Skiff to sell digital versions of newspapers and magazines on electronic readers and other devices, in a system it believes will be more visually appealing to readers and more lucrative for media companies. A eulogy for old-school newsrooms They were loud, chaotic and politically incorrect. They weren’t very diverse. But they sure were full of journalistic passion--and fun You stepped into your first newsroom, and some tectonic plate of destiny shifted. You slid into a new dimension, like Harry Potter at Platform 9 3/4, rematerializing in a parallel realm, previously unimaginable, then life-altering. More layoffs, restructuring at Westchester The Journal News in Westchester, N.Y., revealed the paper will close its printing plant, leading to the elimination of 166 full- and part-time employees in production and packaging. Dallas Morning News reorganizes to bring sales, editorial closer The Dallas Morning News is reorganizing its sales, marketing and newsroom around 11 "business and content segments" that will have sports and entertainment editors reporting to newly created general managers responsible for increasing advertising. Tech companies to move into Chronicle building Three technology companies have agreed to lease the lower floors of The Chronicle building, the first steps in a broader plan to create what the developers and city are calling an "innovation incubation hub" in the Mid-Market district. Government will credit over $1B to support publishers A mythology about the relationship between American government and the news business is again making the rounds, and it needs a corrective jolt. The myth is that the commercial press in this country stands wholly independent of governmental sustenance. New ABC rules helps some papers boost circ While U.S. newspapers are losing subscribers at a staggering rate, a few dailies stand out because their circulation is rising. But they aren't necessarily selling more copies. Ad revenue sees 13th consecutive quarter of decline in Q3 Newspaper advertising revenue dropped for the 13th consecutive quarter in the third quarter, with 2009 ad sales shaping up to be the lowest since 1987. Saving journalism wonkfestapaloozas are bumping up against each other in our calendars. Can't attend each and every one?; take in its webcast, live or archived! As Salon CEO Richard Gingras has sagely suggested: "The future of news is a future of conferences about the future of news". Last man standing? NYT and WSJ move on metro markets It's hard to gauge the impact of New York Times and Wall Street Journal moves into metro markets. They could be simple, print retention strategies aimed, at holding on to valuable print readers -- the magnets for still-lucrative print advertising -- for as long as possible. Anschutz, Singleton partner to sell newspaper ads in California Philip Anschutz's Clarity Media Group and William Dean Singleton's MediaNews Group Inc. -- both based in Denver -- have launched a partnership to sell newspaper ads in northern California. Times' executive editor Bill Keller critiques his paper "The idea that you can do 'more with less' is, in my view, one of the four great lies," Sober mood at New York Post as circulation spirals lower Three years ago, Col Allan, the editor of The New York Post, pumped his fist and waded into a cheering crowd at a Midtown restaurant, celebrating The Post's overtaking its rival, The Daily News, in weekday circulation. The Post trumpeted the news on a Times Square billboard and in its pages. In new FAS-FAX: Circ clues emerge in Detroit after big shift The Detroit Media Partnership took a huge gamble when it cut home delivery of the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News to three days at the end of last March. We knew that USA Today's early word of a circulation plunge -- 17%, announced by Gannett two weeks ago -- would probably be a sick canary in a dark coal mine. Newspapers across the country show steep declines in circulation, in new FAS-FAX The San Francisco Chronicle lost more than a quarter of its daily circulation Circulation at many of the country's largest newspapers continued a steep slide as the Audit Bureau of Circulations Monday morning released the latest figures for the six months ending September 2009 -- proving yet again that the industry can't shake the dramatic declines that have taken hold over the past several years. Overall circ in new FAS-FAX: Down 10.6% vs. 7.1% last time The decline in U.S. newspaper circulation is accelerating as the industry continues to struggle with reader defections to the Internet and tumbling ad revenue. Falling ad revenue and a big one-time charge pushed newspaper and TV station owner Media General Inc. to a third-quarter loss, the company said Wednesday. Charlotte Observer offers buyouts The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer announced Monday a voluntary buyout program for many employees, including most of the newsroom, a Web story said. A newsroom subsidized? minds reel Those of us who work in traditional media have spent a fair amount of time wondering what part of the implosion in advertising revenue is cyclical (ad buying is suffering because of the recession) and what part is secular (we're making horse buggies). Gannett ad sales still dropping despite 3Q profit Profits at Gannett Co. fell 53 percent in the third quarter as the largest U.S. newspaper publisher endured another big decline in ad revenue. N.Y. Times' SF edition plays inside-out game Tired of playing defense and readying itself for offense, the New York Times' formal announcement of its San Francisco "edition" this week shows us how a world is moving and how the Times and Wall Street Journal (which also will offer an SF edition soon) is taking their battle to a city near you. Modest hopes for McClatchy's 3Q As the first major newspaper company to release its third-quarter earnings, McClatchy will provide a gauge on the state of an industry that has been reeling for most of the past three years. Are industry 'rules of thumb' still applicable? The business model of daily newspapers is broken, the constant refrain goes. Every day brings news of dailies furiously chopping jobs and newshole to survive a hostile environment where, it is repeated, "everything has changed." Shrinking newspapers have created $1.6 billion news deficit Nearly everyone agrees now on the basic narrative of the news business in transition. Old media -- newspapers especially -- are contracting drastically. They don't field the news effort they did in better times and probably never will again. On the other hand, alternative digital startups are exploding, and may in time plug much of the gap. Dallas Morning News takes premium value approach For five years, The Dallas Morning News cut costs and trimmed content to combat declining advertising revenue, as did newspapers nationwide. Now it is trying a new tack. It's begun adding some coverage back, laying plans to hire some new reporters -- and testing how much readers are willing to pay. USA Today will show 17% circulation decline When the Audit Bureau of Circulations releases the latest numbers on Oct. 26, it will show that USA Today's circulation fell 17% to 1.88 million for the six months ending September 2009, a drop of about 390,000 copies. The decline could also threaten USA Today's position as the No. 1 newspaper in the country by circulation. A double dose of denial in Denver At almost the very moment former publisher John Temple candidly told the Berkeley media-technology conference last week the reasons why the Rocky Mountain News succumbed, the Rocky Mountain Independent was drawing its final breath. Google's Eric Schmidt on newspapers & journalism Google has a “moral responsibility” to help newspapers Is Google a newspaper killer? Not by a long shot, says Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Nor does he want it to be. In a long interview about his company's relationship with newspapers and the print journalism industry, Schmidt made it clear he wants established players to survive. The New York Times plans local editions in Chicago, San Francisco and other markets The New York Times is making plans for editions of the paper tailored to the Chicago area and other metropolitan markets, in addition to the San Francisco edition it plans to unveil this fall. |
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