Largest UK magazine axed due in part to Royal Mail

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.3dissue.com/blog/?p=3194" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Back in February it was reported that the U.K.’s largest magazine by circulation was to be axed from July.

News today has confirmed that the Satellite Television provider will be discontinuing its publication completely after deciding not to go ahead with even a quarterly edition of the publication. SKY are the company in the UK who bring shows such as HBO’s ‘PanAm’ or ‘Boardwalk Empire’ to screens across the UK and Ireland.


Total circulation for the publication are 8 million for the TV guide and 7.2 million combined for the Movie and Sports magazine, neither of these publications were paid for by subscribers to SKY TV.

Reasoning behind the decision are based on costs and that their communications will now “go where their customers are” – on-line, so a weekly e-mail will replace the publication with an app.

The BSKYB network which offers triple play proposition in the UK (TV, Internet and Phone) has been previously chaired by Australian born Rupert Murdoch, media giant and the owner of iPad only news title ‘The Daily’ which intended to change the way people consumed their news by charging for content. Despite attempts from Rupert and his son James who later held the top job at SKY their efforts at a take-over were thwarted in 2010/11

Recent increases in postage costs at the Royal Mail in the UK have also placed increasing pressure on publications such as SKY magazine where the revenue stream is sunk.

What remains to be seen is whether there will also be a digital edition to replace the former model.

[Wessex]

Can't remember who sky was with but presume it was dsa , am I right in thinking it was tnt or dhl

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Can't remember who sky was with but presume it was dsa , am I right in thinking it was tnt or dhl

I think it was mixed - I used to get some as MS 3 some as 2nd class - cant remember if we had any DSA.

[steven100]

This is just another dent in rm. The public have lost faith in Rm along with economic crisis its going to lead to more contracts being shelved whether its with rm,tnt or dhl. Another crisis could be the uncertained in weather.

[Wessex]

That's bad news for Royal Mail then.

[westlondonpostie]

Wonder if they'll be reducing the subscriptions accordingly?

[steven100]

That will be another 1000+ staff being made part-time or even made redundant too ensure Darth gets her bonus along with middlemanagement.

[POSTMAN]

Headline is bullshit,f**k all to do with us.
And yes,very bad for us.

[pinstripe]

Sky have been planning this for ages. To blame it (even partly) on a price rise by RM is not accurate. They have been offering this 'magazine' on line for over a year. Think about it, produce a magazine that hardly anyone ever read and post it to 8 million homes or freeze their prices or a year.

I know it is a loss of revenue for us, but to the ordinary postie on the streets, its just one less piece of heavy junk mail for every house once a month.

[Straight4ward]

Shame. A good source of revenue and I always thought that they were piss-easy to deliver.

But you're right to point out that the headline is disingenuous, at best. The print costs will greatly outweigh the distribution costs.
Also, 3dissue have a clear interest in promoting online publications at the expense of the traditional method.

[hubbahubba]

There won't be any tears shed by processing bods in streamline over the loss of this contract.I know RM will prob use this as a reason to try and shed more jobs,but they used to be a bitch to cut/tip and seg...

[pinstripe]

There won't be any tears shed by processing bods in streamline over the loss of this contract.I know RM will prob use this as a reason to try and shed more jobs,but they used to be a bitch to cut/tip and seg...

All it means is that RM have one less reason to come up with to close another half dozen MC's. They won't lose any sleep over this as it fits in nicely with their master plan. (Great, now I sound like a conspiracy nut.)

[Judgee]

Sky have been planning this for ages. To blame it (even partly) on a price rise by RM is not accurate. They have been offering this 'magazine' on line for over a year. Think about it, produce a magazine that hardly anyone ever read and post it to 8 million homes or freeze their prices or a year.

I know it is a loss of revenue for us, but to the ordinary postie on the streets, its just one less piece of heavy junk mail for every house once a month.

Yup and another excuse for RM to increase round sizes no doubt!

[Darren Bent]

good news for posties who hated Sky mag but bad news as it will encourage more cut. if there is 8 millions magazine delivered that should be worth 3 millions a months roughly. Which should be 2,500 people monthly wages. (based on 1,200 average)