The beginning of the end for print?

Canada’s largest daily newspaper chain will lay off some staff, centralize more operations and cease Sunday print publication in three major markets, Postmedia Network has confirmed.

In addition, its flagship publication, the National Post, will stop producing a print edition on Mondays for at least the summer and perhaps longer, the Toronto-based company also said.

The move comes amid an industry-wide decline in advertising revenues and increased competition from foreign-owned digital-only publications, Postmedia chief executive officer Paul Godfrey said in a telephone interview.

Unlike its competitors, Postmedia is also servicing a large $516 million debt, the legacy of several ownership changes that began when Conrad Black sold the former Southam chain for a record $3.2 billion to the Asper family in 2000.

Godfrey said the cost-cutting had less to do with debt repayment and more to do with cutting print costs in order to invest in digital platforms. Readers will continue to be served online, he said.

“We’re no different from the rest of the industry,” Godfrey said, noting that the Globe and Mail recently announced it is seeking voluntary unpaid three-month leaves from 80 staff members in order to reduce costs. “The publisher of the Globe and Mail said it was the worst April ever. We can sympathize with him.”

Citing an industry-wide fall in advertising revenue, the Globe has also moved up plans to introduce a paywall on the newspaper’s website, where readers would be required to pay for stories beyond a certain monthly minimum.

“We know that print advertising revenue decline is ongoing across the industry. And a lot of the lost revenue in Canada is going to foreign-owned and controlled digital companies who, without any regulation, are accessing Canadian audiences and eroding Canadian media revenues,” Godfrey wrote in a memo to staff.

He was referring to Google, Facebook and the Huffington Post, he said in a later interview, noting they’re exempt from regulations that require newspaper publishers to be majority Canadian owned in order for advertisers to qualify for a tax break.

Postmedia to close Sunday papers in Ottawa, Edmonton and Calgary, cutting jobs and costs across chain - thestar.com (http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1201828--postmedia-to-close-sunday-papers-in-ottawa-calgary-and-edmonton?bn=1)

Since, not sure how it is in SA, but here Metro has taken over the world with the 'this week' editions, which are free and no more than ad holders. There are still many very small publications but....... As you know, it is hard to get print time and enough revenue to justify operations with all the freebies out there.

On the whole, digital press is eating hard market. Which is too, as I still prefer an actual paper to read.... I only use the on line versions for updates or scanning what I want to read. I know I come from a hard copy era, but having something in print seems more credible to me....... Digital has very little drive factor.

The National Post is now often thicker than the Toronto Star, which is delivered rolled up inside a little rubber band. That used to be physically impossible.

Sign of the times, also Government keeps saying all is well - economy is thriving. They are in a bubble, everyone I am speaking too is going through a correction.
oh well - governments always thinks its rosy before it all blows up and then say how did that happen?

Yeah we have the daily Metro in Ottawa, but I'd hardly call that a real paper. Yeah it has the main articles, but that's about it. It doesn't carry all the news. It's good for it's purpose, which is to keep you busy on the bus, or give you the highlights.

But then I don't read newspapers that much. I don't have the time. I probably get my news from the TV.

We switched to the digital edition of the Edmonton Journal about two years ago. Costs $100 a year instead of $300. I still like to peruse the paper Journal at work but truth be told, more for nostalgia or if I want to clip something. Those big pages always needed to be folded or laid out on the table to make them easier to read. One thing I have noticed is we don't get all the daily flyers that we used to, which is also presumably a part of the cost of printing the paper, and there is a lot less paper in the landfill now. I read a great deal of the new right on my iPhone now.

We switched to the digital edition of the Edmonton Journal about two years ago. Costs $100 a year instead of $300. I still like to peruse the paper Journal at work but truth be told, more for nostalgia or if I want to clip something. Those big pages always needed to be folded or laid out on the table to make them easier to read. One thing I have noticed is we don't get all the daily flyers that we used to, which is also presumably a part of the cost of printing the paper, and there is a lot less paper in the landfill now. I read a great deal of the new right on my iPhone now.

The lack of flyers is actually the reason the paper is smaller! The price of a newspaper is often only a fraction of its cost, subsidized by flyers and print ads.

I dunno. I mean, I understand the rationale and all, but I think they're going to have a tough time convincing customers why they should continue to pay the same price for six days worth of newspapers when they used to have seven. If you need to increase the cost per issue that's one thing, and you can take it or leave it, but to assume people are willing to pay the same price for a decreased quantity of something is pretty presumptuous.

Exactly. We cancelled our Journal subscription effective July 1 after 22 years of seven days a week and told them the decrease in service represented in reality a 14.3% hike in rate. They are going to find subscribers objecting to this in huge numbers.

I dunno. I mean, I understand the rationale and all, but I think they're going to have a tough time convincing customers why they should continue to pay the same price for six days worth of newspapers when they used to have seven. If you need to increase the cost per issue that's one thing, and you can take it or leave it, but to assume people are willing to pay the same price for a decreased quantity of something is pretty presumptuous.

I agree. I wouldn't pay it. Just explaining the difference between cause and effect regarding the flyers. So much of the newspaper is made up of stuff from wire services and pick-ups that its a wonder they have such large staffs at this point.

Exactly. We cancelled our Journal subscription effective July 1 after 22 years of seven days a week and told them the decrease in service represented in reality a 14.3% hike in rate. They are going to find subscribers objecting to this in huge numbers.

The good news is that the Ottawa flunkies have assured us; There is no inflation. Makes me wonder which face was doing the talking

I've been reading (and subscribing to) The Daily on my iPad for the past year now. I wish that the traditional Canadian media outlets would produce an app that just works and is designed with the reader in mind. I'd subscribe in a second. I find the Wall Street Journal is too heavy for my reading tastes but at least the app is well designed.

Even the USA Today app is much better designed than anything that I've seen out of any of the Canadian media companies. My biggest beef is that they keep recycling old articles.

I want an app that will deliver the newspaper experience that I am used to. Give me new articles to read each day. Don't retread the wire releases. Give me columnists that are worth reading. I'll gladly pay for the subscription. How difficult can this be?