Beginning April 2, the Beacon Journal’s Channels TV magazine will be available by request only. A postcard was attached as a sticky note to Sunday’s magazine for subscribers to fill out and mail in.
The notice said:
“To continue uninterrupted delivery of the Channels TV magazine with your home-delivered subscription, complete and return this postage-paid card by Monday, March 27.”
There also was a notice printed atop the magazine.
Presumably those who don’t want the TV guide could save the newspaper money in paper and printing costs.
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3 comments:
Betcha retired TV editor John Olesky is the next person to leave a comment about this post.
Well, I can't make a liar out of Harry, can I? Actually, I emailed Jim Crutchfield with a way to save the BJ $300,000 a year (at least, that's what it cost before I retired in 1996): Eliminate the VCR Plus numbers. In their day, they helped people who couldn't use their VCRs to tape programs. But TiVo and all kind of technology improvements probably have reduced VCR Plus' usefulness to a tiny segment of BJ readers.
Channels is a victim of galloping technology. Heck, I'm the first editor Channels ever had, and I don't use it today. The on-screen cable guide has changes that Channels can't because of deadlines. The Internet lets you have your own TV Guide schedules free, and they, too, are updated after Channels is printed.
There are far too many channels on cable for any printed version to work any more. The BJ, when it reduced its daily TV grid to one-fourth its normal size, eliminated HBO, Showtime and other movie channels. Those who pay for premium channels have discretionary income, which advertisers love. So the BJ cuts them off, under pressure to reduce costs.
Channels and daily TV grids remind me of public transit: To reduce losses, bus routes are eliminated, which reduces the number of people who use the buses, and revenue. So more bus routes are eliminated. It's a downward spiral.
I don't have a solution to the BJ's listings problem, other than to join the online TV guides, which can be far more timely than printed versions. After I left, the real Channels -- not today's imposter -- soon faded into the end of an era in newspaper TV guides.
Hey, the blacksmith lost out to the automobile. Newspaper TV guides lost out to TiVo, simplified VCR and DVD recorders, and online TV guides.
Even if I still were the TV Editor, I could not prevent this changing of the guard. I'm just grateful that I wasn't around to watch the patient die.
what a mind-set--continue to give folks less and less for their money. first the zones went..the death of good local coverage, the magazine, news and views and now the tv listings. save a buck and love 10 subscribers...what a way to run a railroad!!!!
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