Sox Shuffle Continues
Friday Afternoon Diversion
Jay-Z Announces 2010 Tour Dates. Chicago Not On List.
I Fight Dragon$
"Batman" Headline Is a Stretch, But Prison Escape Story Could Be Its Own Movie
You know that thing you never do? Now it will cost another 25 cents if you start to do it. Yes, the Tribune is increasing its newsstand price to 75 cents for Monday-Saturday editions, but the Sunday edition remains $1.79. The memo sent out from Tony Hunter, the Trib's senior vice president of circulation and operations, said:
Starting Monday, December 31, Chicago Tribune will raise its Monday - Saturday newsstand price from 50 cents to 75 cents in the Primary Market Area (PMA). The daily newsstand price increase will be the newspaper's first in more than 15 years. Our newsstand sales represent only 8 percent of daily paid circulation. Our company’s decision to increase the newspaper’s newsstand price was motivated in part by the need to defray some of the rising costs associated with production and distribution. This price increase is also consistent with the pricing trends occurring across the newspaper industry.There are no plans to change the newsstand price of the Chicago Tribune's Sunday edition, which continues to be priced at $1.79. However, home delivery subscription rates will rise slightly in 2008, while providing an even greater discount from newsstand prices. We've communicated these messages to our readers on page 4 of today's paper.
Chicagoans value Chicago Tribune as a news and information source to help them be informed citizens and smarter consumers. We expect most of our daily single copy readers to continue purchasing the paper at the new price. We’re confident that this move is in the best interest of our company’s overall financial performance, allowing us to continue providing valuable benefits to our customers.
The Trib's daily circulation is 576,132 — and falling. Maybe that's why they launched Chicago Live, which one Trib staffer told us was "like a local YouTube, if you took away the interesting part." So far it just seems incredibly bare to us, but another memo to Trib employees said
Chicagolive.com will also serve our advertisers by offering a new avenue for them to reach the audience they are looking for. Online video is growing by leaps and bounds, and advertisers are looking for ways to take advantage of its interest to web users. Chicagolive.com will serve that interest and is an exciting new venture that reflects the spirit of Tribune’s transformative change. We look forward to watching it grow and witnessing its success to come.
According to that e-mail, the Trib sites — including Metromix and Chicago Sports — brought in over a billion page views in the 2007 calendar year. Hm, maybe this whole internet thing is catching on....
Read and recycle by mikeditkasc.
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There was an interesting article about how the nytimes has decreased the "weight" of each online page it sends out. That is to say, the file size of each page. The tribune needs to seriously reduce page size if they want to keep their page hits rising.
There was an interesting article about how the nytimes has decreased the "weight" of each online page it sends out. That is to say, the file size of each page. The tribune needs to seriously reduce page size if they want to keep their page hits rising.
I wish there was an economist to calulate
the run-over-rise Red Eye readership increase with the Tribune price increase
I remember The Tribune. That's the paper where they publish press releases and pass them off as reporting. Wait, I still get the Sunday edition, but I just do it for the coupons and advertising pull outs.
Please ... comparing RedEye to Tribune ... what a joke. I am willing to bet that if the Tribune Company charged a dime for Redeye, readership would drop more than 50%.
Chicagolive.com will also serve our advertisers
That sentence right there might be a good place to start if the Trib wants to know why circulation is so down.
As far as I'm concerned, part of the problem with the newspaper industry is that publications are traded on the stock market, making them beholden to shareholders, not the public.
I'm looking forward to Sam Zell taking over the Tribune. Once someone can run that paper for a reason other than increasing profits each quarter, I think we'll start to see some better content.
I agree with you BFA on the "if the Tribune Company charged a dime for Redeye, readership would drop more than 50%" , but I also think that raising the price of the Trib will cause a sizable percentages of the idiots who read the tribe more for the sports and comics than for the news to say, “ how dare they raise the price! I will show them, I’m gonna read the Red Eye and it sure is more interesting any way!
I'm looking forward to Sam Zell taking over the Tribune. Once someone can run that paper for a reason other than increasing profits each quarter, I think we'll start to see some better content.
What on earth makes you think Zell is concerned with anything *other* than profit?
I don't doubt for one minute that Sam Zell is interested in anything more than making a buck. He's said as much.
I just think that privately held newspapers are beholden to a different profit motive than publicly traded media companies. The stock market demands growth every quarter; private owners can take different risks than a publicly traded company can.
I don't doubt for one minute that Sam Zell is interested in anything more than making a buck. He's said as much.
I just think that privately held newspapers are beholden to a different profit motive than publicly traded media companies. The stock market demands growth every quarter; private owners can take different risks than a publicly traded company can.
Why would someone that has "no special affection for newspapers" even want to take any risks? I hope your optimism is correct, but I don't think that Zell has even an inkling of what it takes to make a great paper people want to read. I think those "risks" are going to come in the form of more empty crap like entertainment gossip and Drew Peterson.
But again, hopefully I'm wrong.
I used to love sitting down with a cup of coffee and reading the paper usually when I am supposed to be working. The sad fact is the number and quality f the stories is down and the price is up. I guess I will spend more time online.
"I guess I will spend more time online."
I, too, think the quality of the Trib has gone down, but where online does one actually get hard-news, in-depth and investigative reporting about Chicago on a daily basis? I don't see unpaid or low-paid bloggers or so-called citizen journalists taking up the slack, unless, of course, you are mainly interest in an in-depth examination of Tuesday night bar specials.
Just wonder why my trib subscription fund that lame @ss RedEye for young'uns who are too cheap to buy a paper and too clueless to realize they are just reading worthless drivel and advertising. Then again, maybe that's all the Trib is offering these days too. . . . ??