Magazine Media Giant Bolsters TV Holdings

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Des Moines-based Meredith Corp. has added to its stable of tv stations by acquiring two stations from Gannett Co. for $407 million, mediabistro.com FishbowlNY reported.

Meredith adds Top 25 Market St. Louis' KMOV-TV and KASW-TV in Phoenix to its holdings of 12 television stations and approximate 30 magazines with the purchase, which is expected to be finalized during the first quarter of 2014 pending FCC approval. The media conglomerate already owns Phoenix CBS affiliate KPHO-TV.

UPDATE: FCC Allows Media Mergers

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The FCC last week approved the mergers of Belo Corp. and Gannett Co. (see "TUOL" post 6/13/13) and the Tribune Co. acquisition of Local TV LLC (see "TUOL" post 7/1/13), Broadcasting & Cable's Web site reported.

The FCC found that neither consolidation violated its rules and considered both acquisitions in the public interest.

Politico: USA Today to Expand Regional Reporting: Will It Cover USA?

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Chicago, Boston, Las Vegas and Miami will get more exposure in Gannett Co.-owned flagship USA Today as the daily intends to bolster its regional coverage of breaking news and enterprise stories, Politico reported this week.

USA Today reporter Alan Gomez already has his marching orders for 2014 as he will relocate to Miami where he also will be the daily's correspondent for Latin America and South America, according to the Politico article.  USA Today has endured a turbulent 2013, doubling its newsstand price, waffling about erecting a paywall and thinning its newsroom herd through voluntary retirements (see "TUOL" posts 9/26/13 & 3/13/13).

USA Today, a hotel chain fave because it slips so easily under guest room doors, is further increasing its brand as Gannett plans in the coming year to insert a condensed version of the daily into 35 smaller dailies in its newspaper empire, with a goal toward ultimately appearing in all 81 of its print properties, according to Politico.

Xtra! Xtra! Weep All About It: Newspaper Industry to Lose $1b in Ad Revenue in 2013

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The newspaper industry will lose $1 billion in advertising revenue by the time the sun sets on 2013, according to a press release by Gannett Co., the nation's largest newspaper owner.

As reported by The Huffington Post and Poynter.org web sites, the industry expects to earn $1.18 billion less in ad revenues this year compared to 2012 numbers. Ad revenues are off 5.9 percent at Gannett, which owns flagship national daily USA Today and 81 other newspapers.

The Newspaper Association of American reports seven consecutive years of declining print advertising in the newspaper industry.

USA Today Ponders Paywall as Newsstand Price Set to Double

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USA Today President and Publisher Larry Kramer today clarified his comments that appeared in the New York Post that the national newspaper was considering erecting a paywall to charge online readers, telling Poynter.org that  "no plan exists" for the Gannett Co.-owned flagship daily to charge digital readers.

Paywalls already are in place at national dailies, The New York Times and Wall St. Journal, not to mention Gannett's 80 other daily newspapers (see "TUOL" post 2/23/12). With a combined digital and print readership of 1,674,306 that makes it the nation's third largest newspaper, USA Today suffered a 12 percent drop-off in circulation revenue during the Second Quarter of 2013, according to the Post article.

USA Today is days away from doubling its single-copy price to $2 from $1, the first price hike in six years. The increase, necessitated by sagging circulation and ad revenues, is prompting Gannett to remove many of its iconic white, tv-shaped newspaper boxes. Rather than expect faithful followers to jingle as they walk down the street with a pocketful of quarters, Gannett instead has hammered out deals with Starbucks and the Duane Reade pharmacy chain to serve as outlets where the daily may be purchased.

In an attempt to inject new life into the brand, a section including articles from the Life, Money and News sections of USA Today will begin to appear in Gannett-owned dailies in Indianapolis, Appleton (Wis.), Fort Myers and Rochester. Gannett has dubbed the experiment Project Butterfly for reasons unclear to "TUOL," except perhaps that the insect and the paper weigh about the same nowadays and both are more likely to face a gaining net than net gains.

Westchester Daily Cuts 11% of Staff; Gannett Paper Trimming Approaching 300 Jobs

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Gannett Co.-owned The (Westchester) Journal News has laid off 11 percent of its staff, eliminating 26 jobs, as Gannett's U.S. Community Publishing division's blood-letting nears 300 workers pink-slipped, the Gannett Blog (Gannettblog.blogspot.com) reported today.

Seventeen of the Journal News employees terminated worked in the newsroom, reducing the daily's total workforce to 206. Gannett, the nation's largest newspaper publisher, has been tight-lipped about the latest round of staff reductions, but the Gannett Blog tally is roughly 280 jobs lost across 45 sites. Even the Gannett Government Media division was not spared, as the Army Times drummed 17 staffers off the premises last month.

The U.S. Community Publishing division employs about 18,000. The latest round of layoffs is the company's most severe since June 2011.

Look Out Belo: Gannett Buys TV Giant in Philosophical Shift From Print to Broadcasting

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McLean, Virginia-based media conglomerate Gannett Co., the nation's largest owner of newspapers, seeing the writing on the wall, is acquiring Dallas-based Belo Corp.,which will make Gannett the fourth-largest owner of network television outlets, according to reports by Reuters and Gannett flagship newspaper, USA Today.

The sale is slated for completion by the end of the year, pending antitrust approval, FCC blessings and the ok of two-thirds of Belo's shareholders, the latter of which is a fait accompli, as Belo's directors and executive officers, holders of 42 percent of outstanding shares, already have given the deal their thumbs up.

Gannett, which counts USA Today,  the Detroit Free Press and The (Louisville) Courier-Journal among its stable of 82 newspapers, will nearly double its television holdings to 43 stations with the addition of Belo's 20 stations, nine of which are in the country's largest markets. Gannett expects to reach almost one-third of U.S. households with the acquisition.

As the newspaper industry continues to take on water with declining circulation and shrinking ad revenues, Gannett, which draws most of its revenue from print, is seeking a makeover. Once finalized, the transaction will enable Gannett to derive almost two-thirds of its pre-tax, pre-interest earnings from its combined digital and broadcast segments.

Belo Corp. previously saw the light in 2008 when it severed its broadcasting holdings, which range from KVUE-TV in Austin and KGW-TV in Portland, Ore., to KMOV-TV in St. Louis, from its newspaper assets, which were spun off into the publicly traded A.H. Belo Corp.

Directors of both companies unanimously approved the $2.2 billion deal, which involves Gannett forking over $1.5 billion in cash and assuming $715 million in debt from Belo.

USA Today to Staffers: Hurry Up & Retire

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Staffers, 55 and older, who have toiled at Gannett Co.'s flagship national daily, USA Today, for at least 15 years, have been offered an early retirement buyout by the financially beleaguered paper, according to media gossip blog, JimRomanesko.com.

The blog reported that as many as 150 employees are eligible to take the money and run, but that the paper is reserving the right to deny buyouts to some of those qualified to receive it.  The daily confirmed that staffers who accept the package will receive two weeks' pay for each year of service up to a maximum one year, and that health insurance coverage would continue throughout the payout period.

The devoted "TUOL" staff was on a USA Today diet during a just-completed  hotel stay and couldn't help but notice how easily the news-depleted daily slid under the hotel room door.

'Glock-al' Maps: Daily Publishes Location of Gun Owners

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Gannett-owned The Journal News, which serves the Lower Hudson Valley (N.Y.) counties of Putnam, Rockland and Westchester, has triggered a firestorm of protest by publishing an interactive map identifying the names and addresses of those in the daily's readership area who possess handgun or pistol permits, ABC News reported.

In the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut, slaughter of elementary school children and teachers by a deranged gunman, the Journal News said the map, published last Sunday, was of interest to its readers who want "to know about guns in their neighborhood." The map, which involved clicking on a dot to reveal the name and location of the permit owner, touched off more than 500 comments on the paper's Web site the day it appeared, largely negative.

Although the material was gleaned from public records, "TUOL" believes the Journal News map was not newsworthy, violated the permitholders' privacy rights and perhaps made them vulnerable to burglars. Whatever one's views on the hot-button issue of gun control, informing readers about the location of individuals who legally obtained gun permits is not the same as alerting neighbors that a registered sex offender has moved into the area.

Voluntary Buyouts Offered to Long-time Detroit Journalists

(Photo credit: Bernt Rostad)Voluntary buyout offers have been extended to veteran reporters at the Gannett Co-owned Detroit Free Press and the MediaNews Group-owned Detroit News, the Associated Press reports.

According to the AP story, a spokesperson for the Detroit Media Partnership, which oversees the two dailies' finances, said fewer than half of the eligible 155 journalists are expected to receive the payout. To qualify, applicants must be at least 56 years old and have accrued 20 years of service at one of the Detroit dailies. Those who take the buyout will garner two weeks' pay for each year of service up to a maximum 52 weeks, and will continue to receive health insurance during the payout period.

Neither McLean, Va.-based Gannett, the nation's largest newspaper owner, nor Denver-headquartered MediaNews Group, publisher of The Denver Post and The Berkshire Eagle, among other newspapers, would address whether layoffs loom if the number of buyouts do not meet expectations, but given the current state of the industry, such a scenario wouldn't be surprising.

Cincinnati Enquirer: More Portable, More 'Wallable"

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)Gannett Co.-owned Cincinnati Enquirer, which has endured newsroom cuts and shrinking ad revenues and circulation in recent years (see "TUOL" posts 2/18/11, 7/13/09), this fall will switch to a smaller format and erect a paywall to charge for online content, the business journal Cincinnati Morning Call reports.

Enquirer Editor Carolyn Washburn claims the changeover to a 10-by-14-inch format like the Columbus Dispatch, and imposing an as-yet-to-be-determined fee structure for its online edition will enable the daily to stave off financial losses and to retain its 150-plus journalists.

Apparently, Cincinnati's first-place baseball team isn't the only business in the city that sees "Reds."

Paywall Construction on the Rise

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)Newspaper digital subscription programs continue to grow, as roughly 186 newspapers across the nation have erected paywalls, according to the Web site Newsandtech.com

Gannett Co.'s U.S. Community Publishing division last week unveiled digital subscriber plans for The Des Moines Register, The Tennessean and The Courier-Journal, raising to 28, the number of its newspapers requiring online visitors to pay for access to content. (See "TUOL" post 2/23/12.)

A dozen major newspaper publishers have erected paywalls for digital versions of their publications, according to Poynter.org.  Holdouts still remain, however, including Hearst Newspapers, LLC, which doesn't charge for online viewing.

Gannett Quarterly Profits Off a Quarter

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)Restructuring costs and plunging newspaper advertising revenue are to blame for the 25 percent decrease in First Quarter profits for McLean, Va.-based media conglomerate Gannett Co. compared to a year ago.

According to an Associated Press report, Gannett, whose stable includes USA Today among its 82 newspapers, along with 23 television stations, saw a 2.6 percent decline in First Quarter revenues compared to the same period in 2011. Digital ad revenues, however, jumped 6.8 percent.

Newsrooms Continued to Shrink in 2011

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)The largest U.S. newspaper publishers last year combined trimmed their work force more than 7 percent, according to a review of Securities & Exchange Commission filings by Media Daily News (www.mediapost.com).

A.H. Belo, owner of the Dallas Morning News and Providence Journal, among other papers, slashed its job force by 13.6 percent compared to 2010 figures, while its revenues declined 5.3 percent. Media General shrank its newsroom personnel by 9.7 percent, almost matching a 9.1 drop in revenues.

Likewise, the Washington Post Co. newspaper division cut its work force 4.5 percent and suffered a 5 percent decrease in revenues. The McClatchy Co., which owns 30 dailies, reduced its work force by 11.5 percent and experienced a 7.4 percent drop in advertising revenues.

The Gannett Co. axed 6.7 percent of the workers in its publishing division as publishing revenues declined 5.7 percent. E.W. Scripps grew its television holdings, but cut 6.7 percent of its newspaper employees.

The New York Times Co. was the winner among the losers, as it were, lopping off only 2 percent of its newsroom staff, in line with a modest 2.9 percent decrease in revenues. Rounding out the depressing Media Daily News article, Lee Enterprises endured a 6.5 percent drop in staff size, while operating revenues were down 3.1 percent.

Publisher Projects Paywall Proliferation

Image via Wikipedia"Good fences make good neighbors," poet  Robert Frost wrote in Mending Wall (1914), but McLean, Virginia-based media conglomerate Gannett Co. believes the 80 paywalls it plans to erect by the end of 2012 for the online editions of the 80 community newspapers it owns will make annual subscription revenues climb 25 percent.

Forbes Magazine reported yesterday that Gannett's Robert Dickey, president of community publishing, said a metered payment system will be in place for Gannett newspapers that likely will offer from five to 15 free articles monthly before Website visitors have to pay for content. Presently, six Gannett dailies have digital paywalls in place (see "TUOL" post 7/1/10).

The Forbes article noted that Gannett's leaky flagship, USA Today, will not follow the paywall route of its sister publications for now, as the nationwide paper is in the throes of upgrading and making over its Website.

Poor 4th Quarter Earns Gannett Co. S&P 500 Index Booby Prize

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeUSA Today parent  Gannett Co., which counts 82 newspapers and nearly two dozen tv stations among its holdings, saw its stock plummet 6.9 percent yesterday, making the McLean, Va.-based media conglomerate the worst performer among the S&P 500 Index, Bloomberg News reports.

Gannett, which slashed its work force by 2 percent over the summer (see "TUOL" post 6/21/11) as readers continued to flock to online competitors Google and Facebook for information, suffered its fourth consecutive decline in quarterly revenues, plunging 5.3 percent in its publishing division.  Net income for the Fourth Quarter sank 33 percent, according to Bloomberg, to $116.9 million, or 69 cents a share, compared to $174.1 million, or 72 cents a share, a year ago.

The beleaguered media giant's sales dropped 5.1 percent to $139 billion. Gracia Matore, Gannett's former COO, assumed the helm last October after declining health prompted Craig Dubow to step down.

A far cry from the company's salad days when, on one occasion, USA Today founder Al Neuharth when asked whether the first or second syllable of the conglomerate should be emphasized when identifying the company responded: "It's pronounced 'money.'"

Are You Ready to Share Some Football?

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeThe Gannett Co.-owned Green Bay Press-Gazette and the Madison-based Wisconsin State Journal have found their own unique way to celebrate the end of the NFL lockout, according to The Milwaukee Business Journal.

The Journal reports that the Press-Gazette will share its coverage of the Green Bay Packers with the Wisconsin State Journal. In return, the Lee Enterprises-owned Journal will provide coverage of the Univ. of Wisconsin's Badgers sports teams.

Newspaper Industry Economics Reality, meet the Cheeseheads.

Media Conglomerate Slashes Two Percent of Its Work Force

Image via WikipediaRomanesko's Media blog reports that media giant Gannett Co. is doling out pink slips to 700 members of its U.S. Community Publishing (USCP) unit, roughly 2 percent of its work force.

The company blamed a weak real estate sector, lagging automobile ads and slow job growth for its plunging ad revenues, necessitating the staff reduction. Romanesko notes that in March, Gannett CEO Craig Dubow saw his salary doubled and received a $1.25 million cash bonus, so apparently, the "soft" advertising market is hitting some employees harder than others.

Media Giant's Earnings Not So Big

Image via WikipediaFirst-quarter earnings for media conglomerate Gannett Co. plunged 23 percent compared to a year ago, while revenues dropped 4 percent compared to the first quarter results in 2010, according to The Huffington Post.

The owner of USA Today and 80 other newspaper posted earnings of $90.5 million or 37 cents a share this quarter, compared to 2010 figures of $117.2 million or 49 cents a share. Likewise, revenues slipped 4 percent to $1.25 billion, from $1.3 billion a year ago. The company missed analysts' earnings projections, continuing the bad news that has seen company-wide staff furloughs and shrinking ad revenues (see "TUOL" posts 2/14/11, 1/5/11).

Gannett Hopes 'It's All Within Reach'

Image via WikipediaThe media conglomerate that is the nation's largest newspaper owner wants apathetic advertisers to know it's also a digital force to be reckoned with.

Gannett Co.'s flagship newspaper, USA Today, reports today that the media giant, which boasts among its holdings 82 newspapers and 23 television stations, has launched a re-branding campaign that features a new logo and a decidedly uninspired tagline: "It's all within reach." Gone is the "G" superimposed on the globe image, replaced by no illustration, just the company's name in a Verlag typeface.

The new campaign by Gannett, which last year realized $588 million in net income on $5.4 billion in revenue, seeks to remind would-be advertisers that the media company's holdings are visible on the Internet, tablet computers and Smartphones, as well as the traditional mainstream outlets of newspapers and television. All Gannett properties will  conspicuously tout their Gannett connection as part of the new campaign.

Gannett's digital holdings, such as Captivate, are bound to benefit from the conglomerate's Grecian Formula-efforts to look younger and more cutting edge.