More Tampa Tribune cutbacks?

[reformedhack]

I am pursuing rumors that the Tampa Tribune is killing its standalone product, Hernando Today, by the end of the year. It launched as a daily about 15 or 20 years ago, then had some layoffs and a reduction on frequency recently.

Facebook friends are abuzz with the news; I am sick in bed today (unrelated) and don't have a lot of energy to do much with it. Any Tribsters here are welcome to piggyback on this thread with details.

 

[BDC99]

Well, there ya go. Done Nov. 30, apparently. That really sucks.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/tampa-tribune-ceasing-publication-of-hernando-today/2205494

 

[reformedhack]

Thanks for getting that out there, BDC99. I've been waylaid by some kind of illness (Cold? Flu? Ebola?) for the past week or so, and not really keeping up with the pipeline much during that time.

For what it's worth, here's the Trib's awkwardly written spin:

http://hernandotoday.com/he/list/news/hernando-today-will-stop-publishing-after-nov-30-20141106/

 

[LanceyHoward]

Watching the Tribune and Times trying to survive is like watching two punched out fighters stay upright. It is sad.

 

[mediaguy]

A story written by Tribune managing editor Ken Koehn has a direct quote from Ken Koehn, Tribune managing editor, in third person. Would have been even more awkward if he'd declined to comment.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

You hear murmurs that both papers might not survive, but people have been saying that the Trib is on its last legs for at least the last six years.

About a year ago, a friend who is in management at a major paper said the first major city to be without a paper would likely be Tampa/St. Pete or Denver. I'm not sure if any of the bigger Gannett properties have entered that conversation yet.

 

[LanceyHoward]

You hear murmurs that both papers might not survive, but people have been saying that the Trib is on its last legs for at least the last six years.

About a year ago, a friend who is in management at a major paper said the first major city to be without a paper would likely be Tampa/St. Pete or Denver. I'm not sure if any of the bigger Gannett properties have entered that conversation yet.

I am not sure why the Denver Post is on that list. The parent company. DFM, is for sale. According to Ken Doctor the newspapers have margins above 10% and EBITA of about 125 million. The group includes the Los Angeles regional cluster, the Bay area cluster and the St. Paul Pioneer Press, all of whom face far more competitive pressure than the Post. The economy in Colorado is also pretty good. I think the Post must be one of the most profitable papers in the group so I don't see it closing anytime soon.

I would put San Diego on the list. It was bought by a real estate developer a couple years ago. He picked up some nice property because of the location of the offices when he bought the paper and now is looking to sell. He can recoup much if not all the investment by developing the property.

 

[steveu]

Still miss the days of the Post and the Rocky. That's when Denver had a really damn good newspaper presence. I always enjoy going to cities that have more than one paper. Sadly, that's becoming an exception instead of the norm.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

The San Diego guy has an easy out besides folding it. A former America's Cup guy and local philanthropist, Malin Burnham, supposedly wants to buy it and set it up as a non-profit. He has the clout to save the paper.

 

[reformedhack]

Not sports, but pretty troubling nonetheless. The Tribune blew out its longtime, top-notch political reporter yesterday -- a guy who commanded respect from even his competitors. It's getting ugly again on the east side of the bay, too.

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/tampa-trib-lays-off-venerable-political-writer-william-march/2206025

That said, notice the gratuitous dig from the Times in the opening graf: "... who had been with Tampa Bay's smaller newspaper since 1984."

 

[playthrough]

Those digs seem like a lot more of a reach now. Let those without layoffs cast the first stone.

 

[MileHigh]

You hear murmurs that both papers might not survive, but people have been saying that the Trib is on its last legs for at least the last six years.

About a year ago, a friend who is in management at a major paper said the first major city to be without a paper would likely be Tampa/St. Pete or Denver. I'm not sure if any of the bigger Gannett properties have entered that conversation yet.

I am not sure why the Denver Post is on that list. The parent company. DFM, is for sale. According to Ken Doctor the newspapers have margins above 10% and EBITA of about 125 million. The group includes the Los Angeles regional cluster, the Bay area cluster and the St. Paul Pioneer Press, all of whom face far more competitive pressure than the Post. The economy in Colorado is also pretty good. I think the Post must be one of the most profitable papers in the group so I don't see it closing anytime soon.

I've been told by more than one person and on very good authority and on several occasions that the Post is bleeding and has been for a long time. Badly. And that the smaller Boulder-area papers are the ones making the money.

 

[MileHigh]

Still miss the days of the Post and the Rocky. That's when Denver had a really damn good newspaper presence. I always enjoy going to cities that have more than one paper. Sadly, that's becoming an exception instead of the norm.

It was frickin' awesome. Now, you can't find any semblance of the Rocky, even online. Went to read the Pulitzer Prize winning package that ran nine years ago today. Sadly ...

 

[LanceyHoward]

You hear murmurs that both papers might not survive, but people have been saying that the Trib is on its last legs for at least the last six years.

About a year ago, a friend who is in management at a major paper said the first major city to be without a paper would likely be Tampa/St. Pete or Denver. I'm not sure if any of the bigger Gannett properties have entered that conversation yet.

I am not sure why the Denver Post is on that list. The parent company. DFM, is for sale. According to Ken Doctor the newspapers have margins above 10% and EBITA of about 125 million. The group includes the Los Angeles regional cluster, the Bay area cluster and the St. Paul Pioneer Press, all of whom face far more competitive pressure than the Post. The economy in Colorado is also pretty good. I think the Post must be one of the most profitable papers in the group so I don't see it closing anytime soon.

I've been told by more than one person and on very good authority and on several occasions that the Post is bleeding and has been for a long time. Badly. And that the smaller Boulder-area papers are the ones making the money.

My back of the envelope guesses may well be wrong. I am going to be very interested in the sales price.

A question. I read that DFM appears are very centralized and the individual clusters would be hard to sell separately. As it pertains to the Colorado papers is that true? Could the Colorado papers be easily hived off from the rest of the chain and sold to Anschultz- who bought Colroado Springs- or another local buyer?

 

[MileHigh]

Don't know where you read that, but all of DFM will not be sold in one swoop. It will be picked apart for the individual clusters. So getting the Post and the Boulder-area dailies could be available. Could it go to Anschutz? Him owning the Gazette I would think would be a problem antitrust-wise, with him owning basically every paper from Loveland south to the Springs.

But selling off individual papers/clusters (say, all of LANG to one person/group, all of BANG to one person/group)? That's much more plausible.

 

[thesportsscribe]

The Trib has also stopped sending its USF beat writer to football road games as well. For the past few games, they've been using stringers in his place, much like both papers do for basketball coverage.

 

[BDC99]

Is the Times not doing the same on USF? I believe that is the case but haven't noticed.

 

[thesportsscribe]

No, Joey Knight still covers road football games for the Times.

 

[BDC99]

I doubt that will be the case moving forward. Nevertheless, of course the beat writer should be with the team, but it's more understandable than if the local school had the stature of UF or FSU, both of which have larger followings in the Bay area than USF. USF has been horrible and hasn't built much of a following other than their meteoric rise a few years back.

 

[LanceyHoward]

Don't know where you read that, but all of DFM will not be sold in one swoop. It will be picked apart for the individual clusters. So getting the Post and the Boulder-area dailies could be available. Could it go to Anschutz? Him owning the Gazette I would think would be a problem antitrust-wise, with him owning basically every paper from Loveland south to the Springs.

But selling off individual papers/clusters (say, all of LANG to one person/group, all of BANG to one person/group)? That's much more plausible.

This si the article by Ken Doctor I am referring to:

http://www.niemanlab.org/2014/11/ken-doctor-the-envelopes-open-on-the-sale-of-digital-first-media-newspapers/

I can not vouch for the creditbility.