Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Tea & Harrisburg Champions to Close October 1st

Argus Leader Media has announced that the Tea & Harrisburg Champions will cease publishing effective Thursday, October 1st, 2009. These publications are a free community publication with total market coverage.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Chippewa County Advertiser Ceases Publication

The Chippewa Valley Newspapers has announced that the Chippewa County Advertiser will cease distribution on October 7, 2009. The Advertiser is a shopper and EMC of the the Chippewa Falls Herald.

Per Mike Wood, Advertising Director of Chippewa Valley Newspapers, the group is focusing its efforts on its long established Big Buck Saver Chippewa County shopper, a Saturday direct mailed publication.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Robinson Newspapers switch from Wednesday to Friday

Robinson Newspapers (Washington) announced that the Monroe Monitor & Valley News, Federal Ways News, and West Seattle Herald will be switching from Wednesday distribution to Friday distribution, effective September 28, 2009.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Pensacola Gosport to Close

The Pensacola News Journal announced that the military publication Gosport will cease publishing on October 2, 2009.

The PNJ will begin publishing a new military publication the Weekend Liberty effective Thursday October 8, 2009. This new publication will cover NAS Pensacola, Corry Station, Saufley Field, Whiting Field and Elgin Air Force Base with a free distribution of 10,000.

Mobile Press Register Changes to 43" Web

Beginning with the edition of Tuesday, September 22nd, the Mobile Press-Register will be printed using a 43” web

Monday, September 14, 2009

Triple Crown Media, Filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Today

DOVER, Del. — Triple Crown Media Inc., which owns daily and weekly newspapers in Georgia, on Monday became at least the 11th newspaper publisher to seek bankruptcy protection over the past year.

In a prepackaged Chapter 11 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, the Lexington, Ky.-based company listed assets of about $33 million and liabilities of about $86 million.

Triple Crown, which operates six daily Georgia newspapers and one weekly with a total daily circulation of about 95,000, has about 330 employees. It announced early last year that it was cutting its work force by 5 percent because of the economic downturn and increased paper and fuel costs.

The company's daily newspapers are the Gwinnett Daily Post, The Albany Herald, the Rockdale Citizen, the Newton Citizen, the Clayton News-Daily and the Henry Daily Herald. It also published the Jackson Progress-Argus Weekly.

Rhinelander AdPack to Close

The Rhinelander AdPack is scheduled to close on September 29, 2009 per Pete Daniels, the publisher and general manager. The Hodag Buyers Guide and Star Journal will see changes to their circulation as they absorb some of this distribution.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Lenmoore Advance Closes, Hanford Sentinel ceases Sunday Distribution

Lee Central California Newspapers (LCCN), a sub group of Lee Enterprises, has announced that the Lenmoore Advance, a Saturday weekly publication, will cease publishing after the September 24th, 2009 edition.

The Hanford Sentinel, a daily LCCN publication, will be increasing its news coverage of the Lenmoore area to account for the closing. The Hanford Sentinel also announced that effective September 25th, 2009, it will cease publishing its Sunday edition. The Sentinel will instead be focusing on consolidating its Saturday and Sunday editions into a Weekend edition that will be distributed on Saturdays.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Seattle West Herald and Federal Way News Change page size

The West Seattle Herald and the Federal Way News, part of the Robinson Newspaper Group in Washington, announced they are increasing their page size to 5 columns by 16 inches, effective September 16, 2009.

La Presse Threatens Closure

The Montreal La Presse has threatened to close for business on December 1st, 2009 if it cannot make signficant cost cuts. The La Presse is the largest French language newspaper in North America.

The publication had ceased its Sunday distribution earlier this summer to help reduce cost problems.

El Dia Houston Closes

The El Dia Houston, Houston's daily hispanic newspaper, ceased publishing on August 28, 2009. El Dia's publisher will continue to distribute the free classified La Subasta.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Las Vegas Review-Journal Converts to 44" Web

The Las Vegas Review-Journal has announced it will be converting to the 44" Web size on November 3, 2009.

Toronto t.o.night Launches

Toronto t.o.night, a free daily newspaper with evening distribution, was launched on September 8, 2009. This is a magazine style glossy publication with news wire stories.

Cleveland Sun Newspapers Consolidate

The Sun Newspapers in Cleveland, Ohio, consolidated their publications on 8/6/2009, reducing the total number of publications from twenty-two to eleven.

There were three cases where newspapers merged to form a new publication. The Brecksville Sun Courier and Strongsville Sun Star Courier were merged to form the Sun Star Courier. The Chagrin Falls Herald Sun and Solon Herald Sun merged to form the Chagrin Solon Sun. The Lakewood Sun Post and North Olmstead Sun Herald merged to form the Sun Post Herald.

Berea News Sun and the Parma Sun Post increased their respective trade areas.

Eight of the Sun Newspaper publications were eliminated: Euclid Sun Journal, West Geauga Sun, Twinsburg Sun, Nordonia Hills Sun, Bedford Sun Banner, Garfield Maple Sun, Brooklyn Sun Journal, West Side Sun.

Friday, September 4, 2009

New York Daily News

The New York Daily News has new state-of-the-art color presses that will begin rolling in early October. The enhancements:

-images that are magazine quality
-color on every page (up to 144 pages on one pass)
-refreshed editorial environments
-new Sunday Lifestyle section

Attached please find our revised specification for ROP. Any ads scheduled from Monday October 5th forward, should be sent in the new size.

Sunday insert specifications remain unchanged (max 14” folded edge x 10.75” cut edge). Mid Week preprint can be accommodated at a max of 12” folded edge x 10” cut edge. We have be tracking mid week insert sizes and do not foresee any problems with any ACG account.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Katy Times

After September 13, 2009, the Katy Times will no longer publish a Sunday edition.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Winston-Salem Journal Changes Size to 44" Web

On 9/14/09 the Winston-Salem Journal will be converting to a 44" web size. The depth will remain at 21 inches.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Freedom Communications Seeks Bankruptcy Protection

Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Freedom Communications Inc., the owner of more than 30 daily newspapers including the Orange County Register in California, sought bankruptcy protection after print advertising revenue declined.

Freedom, owner of eight television stations, has assets of as much as $1 billion and debt of more than $1 billion, it said today in Chapter 11 papers in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware. The Irvine, California-based company’s revenue totaled $734 million last year, according to Moody’s Investors Service Inc.

The company said it filed to implement a pre-petition agreement it reached with its lender on a restructuring of its debt. A majority of the lenders will support a “pre-negotiated plan of reorganization,” Freedom said in a statement.

“Reaching this agreement with our lenders provides us with an orderly process to realign our balance sheet with the realities of today’s media environment,” Freedom CEO Burl Osborne said in the statement.

The average weekday circulation of the Orange County Register in the six months through March fell 12 percent from the year-earlier period to 233,626, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. That compares with a 7.1 percent industrywide decline.

Freedom’s Gazette of Colorado Springs, Colorado, in the period lost 2.4 percent of its weekday circulation, to 91,599.

Newspaper Bankruptcies

U.S. newspaper publishers including Tribune Co., owner of the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, and Journal Register Co., owner of 20 daily newspapers, previously filed for bankruptcy as the recession speeds declines in ad spending and more readers seek news from the Internet.

Industrywide ad revenue fell 29 percent to $6.82 billion in the second quarter from $9.6 billion a year earlier, according to figures released by the Newspaper Association of America. Ad sales dropped 28 percent in the first quarter, the Arlington, Virginia-based trade group said.

The drought has forced publishers to cut jobs, wages and sections, and boost newsstand prices. Ad sales make up more than half of revenue for publishers including New York Times Co. and Gannett Co.

U.S. advertising revenue for media and entertainment companies will decline through 2010, not returning to growth until 2012, when marketers increase spending on the Internet, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said. The New York-based accounting firm predicts print-ad sales will continue to fall until 2013.

Blackstone Group LP owns a 27 percent stake in Freedom and Providence Equity Partners Inc. holds about 18 percent.

The case is In re Freedom Communications, 09-13046, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).