Philadelphia Freedom: Dailies Seek Independent Paywalled Websites

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Web site www.philly.com, which for years boasted the online shared presence of The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Philadelphia Daily News, will remain live, even as the two papers plan in 2013 to launch separate paywalled Websites, according to a post by www.Netnewscheck.com.

Interstate General Media this year assumed ownership of the two financially troubled dailies, which have had a common owner for more than half a century. Details about the forthcoming News and Inquirer paywalls and subscription rates have yet to be released.

No Brotherly Love for Philly Journos as Layoffs Loom

Image via WikipediaThe Philadelphia Media Network ("PMN"), owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News and philly.com will resort to layoffs if a voluntary buyout program available to employees through the end of the month doesn't yield three dozen fewer workers, Poynter.org reports.

Newspaper Guild leaders received the grim news yesterday that PMN needs to slash its workforce by 37 positions that may come from across-the-board and include reporters, cartoonists, photographers, editorial writers and copy editors, among other classifications. The number of staffers who opt for the buyout will dictate how many layoffs occur, according to Poynter.org.

The respective newsrooms of the Inquirer, Daily News and philly.com will merge when they relocate, which is scheduled for June. PMN is looking to unload the media properties via auction (see "TUOL" post 1/31/12).

Whither Philly Dailies?

Image via WikipediaHow solid or shaky the ground on which Philadelphia Media Network ("PMN")-owned dailies, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, stand is open to debate on news that one of PMN's key stakeholders is sitting on his hands as the papers are put on the auction block.

The New York Post yesterday reported that Alden Global Capital principal Randall Smith, owner of roughly 30 percent of the Inquirer & News properties, has remained quiet amid PMN's auction that is expected to reap about $100 million. PMN acquired the dailies out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from Philadelphia Media Holdings (see "TUOL" post 7/11/11).

Romanesko's media blog reported that PMN CEO Greg Osberg discounted the Post story, assuring PMN employees in a memo that shareholders routinely boost or reduce their ownership levels in properties and that a minority owner may only sell his percentage of ownership in the dailies, not the dailies themselves.

Alden Capital and other hedge funds doled out $139 million for their Philly stake (sorry), the Post reported, but it seems that Smith, a major shareholder in a variety of media entities, including Gannett, Freedom Communications and Journal Register Co., may be losing his taste for media empire building.

Philly Papers to Hawk Digital Version/Android Combo

Image by Getty Images via @daylifePhiladelphia Media Network ("PMN"), owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, plans to sell discounted Android tablets on which digital versions of the dailies already will be built in, according to an article in AdWeek.

Beginning in late August, 2,000 tablets will be pedaled that boast icons of digital replicas of the dailies and separate applications for the papers' online versions. No price has been set, the AdWeek article noted, but the tablets housing the newspapers' content is expected to be offered for half-off their combined retail price. The dailies would receive all the revenues and data that will reflect consumer use of digital newspaper content.

PMN purchased the dailies from Philadelphia Media Holdings out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.