Posted on 07/26/2005 7:08:02 AM PDT by RayChuang88
NEW YORK - TV Guide is slashing the circulation it guarantees advertisers by about two-thirds and relaunching itself as a large format magazine with far fewer TV listings and more emphasis on lifestyle and entertainment, the magazine announced Tuesday.
The radical changes to TV Guide come as it struggles to remain relevant in an age where many TV viewers get their listings from on-screen guides provided by their cable companies or online.
TV Guide also said it would cut jobs as part of the revamp, but it declined say how many.
The new TV Guide, which will launch with the Oct. 17 issue, will contain just 25 percent listings and 75 percent stories, versus the 75 percent listings and 25 percent stories it has now, the company said early Tuesday.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The increased use of Internet based listings from services such as Zap2it.com and TV Guide's web page has contributed to this, not to mention the fact that digital cable boxes, TiVo PVR's and the receiver boxes for DirecTV and Dish Network have built-in program guides anyway.
Yes, a great institution is going away, but then, technology has made much of TV Guide not as useful as it once was.
B-b-but, how will I know who to cheer and jeer now???
Actually, that part of the magazine will stay--and could likely be expanded, too. It's the listing part that will be reduced with the revamped magazine--though of course the TVGuide.com web site will continue to sport full program listings depending on your provider (over-air, cable or satellite TV).
Will it still have 120 inserts to tear out before you can read it? Mine usually loses 3 lbs before I read it.
"...and more emphasis on lifestyle and entertainment..."
What the hell is "lifestyle?"
I subscribed to TVG years ago but it was for the listings (and sometimes detailed episode descriptions) not necessarily for the features.
So, just network TV listings pretty much--no local listings?
Refer to your local paper (esp. the Sunday TV supplement),
or online, or the listings channel on cable if you have one.
If I were a TVG subscriber now, this (cutback on listings)
would force me to drop the subscription.
this is being talked about on the radio-info.com TV board and someone there predicted TVG could be out of business in 5 years or so. Who knows. (And another post predicted it'll be gone in 2 years.)
JEERS to the format change!
CHEERS for giving me a reason to talk my wife into canceling our sub!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.