Computer Shopper Is Going All Digital; April Is Last Print Issue
paidContent has learned that Computer Shopper will cease print publication with its April issue, due off the press next week, and become online only at ComputerShopper.com. The announcement was made internally tonight; some jobs will be affected but owner SX2 Media Labs LLC isn’t disclosing numbers. ComputerShopper.com GM Josh London said the company has been profitable “as a whole” but declined to say whether the print version was profitable on its own. He also said the company is interested in acquisitions.
Via paidContent
Newsday plans to charge for online news
NEW YORK, Feb 26 Reuters – Cablevision Systems Corp CVC.N plans to charge online readers of its Newsday newspaper, a move that would make it one of the first large U.S. papers to reverse a trend toward free Web readership.
Newsday, which covers the New York suburb of Long Island, was bought by Cablevision in a $650 million deal last May that was widely criticized on Wall Street as a puzzling move into a troubled newspaper market.
Cablevision had to write down Newsday’s value by $402 million on Thursday, pushing its fourth-quarter results to a loss, as U.S. print advertising sales and circulation have dropped with more readers seeking free news on the Web.
But Cablevision Chief Operating officer Tom Rutledge said the cable TV company was aware of the difficulties faced by the traditional newspaper business.
“Our goal was and is to use our electronic network assets and subscriber relationships to transform the way news is distributed,” he said on a conference call with analysts.
“We plan to end the distribution of free Web content,” he added.
Via Reuters
Rocky Mountain News to close, publish final edition Friday
The Rocky Mountain News publishes its last paper tomorrow.
Rich Boehne, chief executive officer of Scripps, broke the news to the Rocky staff at noon today, ending nearly three months of speculation over the paper’s future. He called the paper a victim of a terrible economy and an upheaval in the newspaper industry.
“Denver can’t support two newspapers anymore,” Boehne told staffers, some of whom cried at the news.
On Dec. 4, Boehne announced that Scripps was looking for a buyer for the Rocky and its 50 percent interest in the Denver Newspaper Agency, the company that handles business matters for the papers, because it couldn’t continue to sustain its financial losses in Denver. Scripps said the Rocky lost $16 million in 2008.
“This moment is nothing like any experience any of us have had,” Boehne said. “The industry is in serious, serious trouble.”
Online Ads: Even the Evangelists Turning Bearish
It wasn’t too many months ago that saying online advertising would decline in 2009 was enough to get you laughed at in the blogosphere, mocked on Twitter, and have Eric Schmidt roll his eyes and explain, again, why Google ads were such a better value than traditional media.
Flash forward to this week and the Interactive Advertising Bureau big wigs are predicting whole businesses dependent on online ads could go belly up, and researcher IDC has completely reversed its growth estimates. No longer will online ads grow 10% in 2009, says the firm. IDC now predicts a 5% drop in revenues in the first quarter that could get worse in the second. Fingers crossed for the second half of the year.
Paper Cuts – Layoffs and buyouts at U.S. newspapers
This site tracks all layoff and buyout across the industry. Damn there are a lot of pins in that map. 2,620+ jobs in 2009 and it’s only February…
What A Newspaper Layoff Looks Like
Layoffs are underway at the LA Times and a guy named Ed Pagett’s been tallying up the pink slips. Its a revealing look into newspaper operations:
* 63 pressmen and presswomen from Orange County and Olympic
* 11 machinists at the Olympic Facility
* 2 pressroom supervisors Olympic and Orange County
* 1 pressroom clerk from Olympic
* 3 electro-techs from Olympic
* 75 editorial employees
* 4 electro-techs Orange County
* 4 machinists Orange County
* 21 mailroom Olympic (4 full time and 17 part time employees)
* 19 mailroom Orange County (9 full time and 10 part time employees)
* 2 Security guards
* 7 Plate makers (5 at Olympic and 2 at Orange County)
Troubled San Francisco paper in danger of closing
The San Francisco Chronicle joined the lengthening list of imperiled newspapers Tuesday as its owner set out to purge the payroll and slash other expenses in a last-ditch effort to reverse years of heavy losses.
If it can’t reduce expenses dramatically within the next few weeks, the Hearst Corp. said it will close or sell the Chronicle, northern California’s largest newspaper with a paid weekday circulation of 339,430.
via Troubled San Francisco paper in danger of closing: Financial News – Yahoo! Finance.
The Newspaper Bailout is here – $238K??
DULUTH, Minn. AP — Two Minnesota newspapers will receive a share of state grants normally given to retrain workers in manufacturing and other industries in transition.
The Duluth News Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press will work with the University of Minnesota’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication to help staff adapt to an increasingly Internet-based industry.
Minnesota Job Skills Partnership is awarding $238,000 in state funds, while the newspapers and the university will contribute about $469,000 combined, mostly by devoting staff time to training.
Paul Moe, the state program’s director, said newspapers around the country are looking closely at the project as a potential model.
Five Major Northeast Dailies Create Content-Sharing Consortium
NEW YORK A group of five major newspapers in New York and New Jersey are the latest to forge a content-sharing agreement that has already seen the trading of sports and news stories between several of the participants.
The new group includes: The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J.; The Record of Hackensack, N.J.; the Times Union in Albany, N.Y.; The Buffalo N.Y. News; and the Daily News of New York, according to sources and a preliminary press release obtained by E&P.
New York Times Launches Cool Newswire-Type Thing
The New York Times (NYT) continues to lead the traditional news industry in online innovation. The company has by far the largest newspaper site, with 45+ million monthly uniques. It continues to open up to its readers (occasionally, we’ve even spotted comments on the front page). It also continues to roll out new features, such as the one Allen Stern describes below.
NYTimes.com won’t save the company: It doesn’t generate enough revenue to pay for the print infrastructure and news room. But it will ensure that the New York Times’ brand, influence, and content remain a major force, even if the company itself ends up changing hands or getting restructured.
Allen Stern, CenterNetworks:
The big news coming out of the morning sessions was that there is a new API launching next week called TimesNewswire. This will give developers access to live headlines. Attendee Kellan called this new api a New York Times firehose and noted, “NewsWire API is the paper’s stream of consciousness.”
The Future of Print 
leave a comment