Kansas City Star starts charging subscribers extra for its television section

McClatchy Watch ^ | March 13, 2009 | McClatchy Watch

[PJ-Comix]

Talk about finding new and creative ways to insult subscribers... The Kansas City Star plans to charge subscribers an extra 25 cents a week if they want to continue getting the paper's TV supplement, according to an announcement published in the KC Star this week.

How bad are things at the Kansas City Star these days? So bad that the newspaper is now going to charge customers 25 cents extra each week if they want its flimsy, 12-page StarTV section that has been included in its Sunday paper for years.

Home delivery customers will no longer receive the section after April 5 unless they agree to pay the surcharge. In fact, if the carriers forget to deliver the paper they could be penalized up to $5 per customer.

Logistically... it will be a nightmare for carriers to determine who paid the 25 cents for the section. Also, the section is printed inside other sections. Will carriers have to pull them out of those customers who did not pay the extra quarter?

Rather than attempt a rate increase, the paper simply hopes its loyal subscribers will agree to pay for something it agreed to as part of its subscription.

As Grandpa Jones used to say, "It's not the heat, it's the stupidity."

[PJ-Comix]

The death rattles of the Kansas City Star.

[napscoordinator]

Just get the TV guide at the store and cancel the paper. Or better yet find the cable guide on line.

[Dr. Ursus]

Put the TV guide on bathroom tissue and we have a deal!

[Common Sense 101]

Typical libtards... people dropping the DNC propagandist rags in every city across the country, and the libtard response: Charge them more! The only good thing about this is the fact that only the ignorant and their fellow libtards that believe the reporting is “objective” will continue to pay; can charging more for the sports section be far behind?

[mgc1122]

I won’t miss the Star when it finally crumples ... they were to true objective journalism what a turd is to a punchbowl.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Yep, charge extra for the sports page, extra for the local news section, etc.

This is full employment for the billing department, keeping track of who ordered what parts of the paper. It would be a nightmare for the delivery guys.

I really don’t want to see more papers go out of business around the counry. But, their business model doesn’t work anymore, and they have to adapt to changing times if they want to survive. This is a good real world life lesson in economics and business to the liberals who run these papers.

[Common Sense 101]

I agree with you completely, but these papers and their counterparts throughout the media have been giving the American public, their consumers, the “one finger salute” for decades. The majority of consumers, as always in a free market, respond by simply refusing to purchase a product so biased against their beliefs and principles (i.e. versus their preferences, simply facts).

The proof of the media libtard’s self-emulating attitude toward their consumers can be found every time one of them is asked about their bias. Nothing but feigned disbelief and denial; they are libtards first and always, even it results in their own unemployment.

[Mike Darancette]

When the LA Times dropped the TV section their readership dropped. I just started buying the local paper with it’s TV section. Don’t usually read either. They dropped the VCR codes a long time ago.

[UB355]

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal did the same thing two months ago