Detroit Free Press and News to Return to 7 Day Delivery - For Some

Editor & Publisher has reported that the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News will be offering seven day home delivery to some of its subscribers starting next month. 

The publications had discontinued seven day home delivery in April 2010, as a cost cutting measure.  It currently has home delivery on Thursday, Friday and Sunday, with printed single copy and e-editions (for subscribers) on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday. 

The plan is to roll out the seven day option to some subcribers, and slowly expand the offering.

Detroit Daily Press

Mark Stern and Gary Stern, veteran publishers in the newspaper industry, have announced that they intend to create a new daily newspaper for the Detroit market called The Detroit Daily Press.

They expect to launch the new newspaper within 60 days, selling for fifty cents daily and $1 on Sundays.

The Sterns are currently working to secure contracts with two printing plants and lease office space. They are also looking to hire department heads, which given the number of newspaper employees laid off nationally (and locally), should give them many options to consider.

The paper is expected to start small, and then grow based on advertising revenue increases. The Sterns believe their paper can be financially viable as it will not be burdened with the legacy cost issues such as pension funds, old trucks, and facilities, which contribute to the debt problems of existing struggling papers.

The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press have stopped home delivery on Monday through Wednesday, and Saturday, restricting its home delivery to only Thursday, Friday and Sunday. This is leaving an opportunity, the Sterns believe, for another daily publication to fill the market need.

Detroit Free Press - Distribution Change

Detroit Free Press and Detroit News reduced home delivery to three days a week. Missing from the doorsteps and driveways of many Michigan homes Monday morning: newspapers.

In a bold but risky move aimed at ensuring their survival in the digital age, The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press are reducing home delivery to the three days a week most popular with advertisers _ Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. Slimmed-down newspapers, sold at regular prices, will be available in news racks and convenience stores the other four days.

The Detroit publishers hope to cut costs significantly, without sacrificing newsroom staff, to survive a recession that has exacerbated losses from ads shifting to the Internet. Millions of dollars in advertising have eroded over the past year in a city and state being hammered by foreclosures, high unemployment and the near-collapse of the auto industry.

More than 80 newspapers in the country, in smaller markets, have dropped at least one publication day since last year. Other newspapers in Maryland, Michigan, Oregon, Tennessee and Wisconsin are on the verge of similar reductions in frequency. A few have gone online-only.
Detroit is trying a hybrid: keeping daily publication, but cutting back on its commitment to serve homes every day.

The newspapers hope that by nurturing their ink-stained legacy, and reaping only partial savings in production and delivery, they can keep enough revenue and staff to grow beyond print and become profitable on the Internet, cell phones and other mobile gadgets. "They are accelerating greatly the print-to-digital transformation, and they are taking a great chance there," said Ken Doctor, media analyst with Outsell Inc.

The biggest risk is in breaking readers' newspaper habits, he said. If readers realize they can get by without a newspaper at the doorstep four days of the week, they might conclude they don't need it delivered on the other three days. Circulation could drop, and with it, ad revenue.