The Conical Glass: I am killing the newspaper business

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

I am killing the newspaper business

Thanks to Quicken, I have a record of everything I've paid over the years for my San Francisco Chronicle subscription. I started it in June 2005, and paid $19.99 for six months of five-day-a-week (Wednesday-Sunday) delivery. I renewed it for the same price in December 2005. In May 2006, it went up slightly to $36.14, and in December 2006, there was another slight bump to $39.98. That price stayed the same until June 2008, when the price jumped to $78. That was a big leap, but still reasonable, I thought.

Then today, I received a bill for $156 for six months. "Please note that rates have increased due to higher operating costs," it said. Well, I have higher operating costs too, but I'll bet if I sent a notice to all of my clients that from now on, I was doubling my hourly rate, they would complain.

So I have canceled my subscription and will now be one of those freeloaders who reads the paper online, or at the library. (I may, of course, continue to purchase it on certain days of the week when there's extra-good stuff, like Friday and Sunday.) I, a former journalist, am helping kill newspapers!

I was curious if the Chronicle had an electronic edition similar to the one offered by the New York Times: "an exact digital replica of the printed paper." The electronic edition costs $174.95 a year, and can be read offline. I think that's as pretty reasonable charge, considering that the Times is kind of pricey. The Chron has a free "mobile edition," but I can't find anything on their web site on an electronic edition. The subscription FAQ doesn't mention it. Googling "san francisco chronicle electronic edition" yields this page, with no info about how to, y'know, buy the thing. Further searching reveals PressDisplay.com, which has various subscription plans, including a limited free one, and others that let you read as many newspapers from around the world as you want.

So here's my advice, Chron, not that you asked for it. Introduce a snazzy digital edition like the Times' and charge, oh, $75 a year, or at the most, ten bucks a month for it. That will grab traditionalists and people who want to support journalism. You'll save on ink, paper, delivery and transportation costs. I'll bet a lot of the people who now read the news for free on the web site might be willing to pay a few bucks for a better, more attractive product.

posted by 125records @ 3:26 PM

2 Comments:

At 5:41 PM, yellojkt said…

That is six bucks a week to have your lawn littered. Way too much for a fishwrap. No wonder they are dying.
At 3:03 PM, James said…

Your suggestion about an electronic edition was similar to an idea I just proposed to my bosses for a version of the paper that could be customized for cell phones, with subscribers able to receive alerts on breaking news and/or when new stories in their particular fields of interest were added. The response was along the lines of, "Yeah, that would be great, but..." The newspaper industry is destroying itself by playing the dangerous game of cutting back its product and charging customers more for it. How many times a year would you go to the movies if you bought a ticket and all you got was the trailer? And what if you were told afterward that you could have seen the entire film for free on your home computer? That's what this situation is becoming. For what it's worth, I don't blame you a bit for your decision. I know my income level certanly didn't double automatically in the past year to keep up with my increasing expenses and I doubt yours did either.