Sunday Newspaper TV Inserts

[azumanga]

North of the border, not a lot of newspapers do Sunday TV sections, opting to do them on either Friday or Saturday (IIRC the only ones to do Sunday is the Toronto Sun and its sister papers in Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary).

The main reason being is that many newspapers in Canada consider the Saturday edition to be the big weekend edition (with "Sunday" comics, magazine supplement, circulars and TV magazine), unlike the US, where the Sunday edition is the weekend edition. Until recent years, many papers in Canada did not have a Sunday edition, and some smaller dailies don't publish on Saturday or Sunday, making Friday the big paper of the week.

 

[rjoc]

Here in Eastern Maine the Weekend (Sat/Sun) Edition of the Bangor Daily News publishes a brief 4-page TV insert covering the weekend listings and daily highlights. It isn't too bad, they feature all the Bangor network affiliates, Presque Isle's WAGM, and even the CBC and CTV from New Brunswick. The Daily Editon of the BDN features a brief graph of evening shows on the major network and cable channels. They also publish a separate TV booklet for an extra fee. I have yet to buy a copy. The TimeWarner TV Grid on my cable is adequate suprisingly accurate. I also use Zap2It.com a lot .

The Maine Sunday Telegram out of Portland has a dedicated TV Pullout section with the Bangor and Portland affiliates, as well as many popular cable channels. This is free and a dedicated part of the Sunday paper. It is usually 8 pages or so and features complete daily evening listings and weekday grids. It is actually quite good and covers the entire state of Maine.

And yes, I clip the coupons too, for $2 the paper usually pays for itself many times over!!!

 

[Bluenoser]

Here in Eastern Maine the Weekend (Sat/Sun) Edition of the Bangor Daily News publishes a brief 4-page TV insert covering the weekend listings and daily highlights. It isn't too bad, they feature all the Bangor network affiliates, Presque Isle's WAGM, and even the CBC and CTV from New Brunswick. The Daily Editon of the BDN features a brief graph of evening shows on the major network and cable channels. They also publish a separate TV booklet for an extra fee. I have yet to buy a copy. The TimeWarner TV Grid on my cable is adequate suprisingly accurate. I also use Zap2It.com a lot .

Is the BDN hooked up with TV Weekly, or are they distributing an independent TV book?

 

[rjoc]

Here in Eastern Maine the Weekend (Sat/Sun) Edition of the Bangor Daily News publishes a brief 4-page TV insert covering the weekend listings and daily highlights. It isn't too bad, they feature all the Bangor network affiliates, Presque Isle's WAGM, and even the CBC and CTV from New Brunswick. The Daily Editon of the BDN features a brief graph of evening shows on the major network and cable channels. They also publish a separate TV booklet for an extra fee. I have yet to buy a copy. The TimeWarner TV Grid on my cable is adequate suprisingly accurate. I also use Zap2It.com a lot .

Is the BDN hooked up with TV Weekly, or are they distributing an independent TV book?

I believe they are with TV Weekly...but don;t quote me.

 

[Bluenoser]

North of the border, not a lot of newspapers do Sunday TV sections, opting to do them on either Friday or Saturday (IIRC the only ones to do Sunday is the Toronto Sun and its sister papers in Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary). In my local area, here's who does TV listings supplements (or "telecasters" as the local term goes) and when:

Halifax Chronicle Herald: no (it was dropped several years ago, previously a tabloid section on Mondays; it now runs a daily 4pm-midnight grid)

In an update-and a reversal of the trend-the Chronicle Herald recently announced that it was reviving its TV listings supplement, with a tabloid-format supplement launching on April 19th, with the daily grids being dumped on the 18th:

http://thechronicleherald.ca/flippingbook/herald-tv-guide

This is a flipbook showing the new format. The supplement is being distributed only to those who request it...as a carrier for the paper myself, I smell the word that starts with cluster as far as distribution goes The Herald is also changing listing companies as part of the re-launch, dumping Zap2It/Tribune for TV Media (this is TV Media's second kick at the can in Halifax, it previosuly supplied listings for the now-defunct Halifax Daily News, which had previously used the Maritimes edition of TVG for the supplement).

 

[azumanga]

...this is TV Media's second kick at the can in Halifax, it previosuly supplied listings for the now-defunct Halifax Daily News, which had previously used the Maritimes edition of TVG for the supplement...

No doubt during that time, the circulation for TV Guide during that time in the Halifax area was quite low, as no doubt many would buy the paper at the same price, if not less, than the TVG separately.

 

[bpatrick]

Do any papers still do TV inserts?

My dad and stepmom, who live in Burlington, NC, have one in their Sunday paper; likewise,
I think the Myrtle Beach Sun still has one that lists WWAY, WCIV, and WPDE (ABC); WCSC
and WBTW (CBS); WCBD, WIS, and WMBF (NBC); WTAT and WFXB (Fox); and the CW affiliate
for Florence/Myrtle Beach whose calls I can never remember. But both papers are handicapped
by the fact that there is no way they can list all the cable channels; they pick the most popular
(HBO, Showtime, ESPN, Turner Classic Movies, TVLand, the History Channel, etc.).

That, I think, was also one of the problems that brought down TV Guide. To get all the channels
in would have made the magazine look like the Manhattan phone book, when it had prided itself
on its small digest size. Also, I was paying $2.99 every week for a copy (remember when TV
Guide was 15 cents?), and that got out of my--and I'm sure others'--price range.

Interestingly, and somewhat aggravatingly, the Greensboro News and Record not only stopped
its Saturday insert several years ago, it only shows the schedules for the local and cable channels
from 4 PM-midnight Monday-Friday, and 9 AM-midnight on weekends.

 

[charlestondxman]

Charleston's paper has always been weird with their TV edition. They have had it on Fridays for probably 25 years. Very few papers do it on Fridays. About 2 or 3 years ago they stated charging extra for the TV section, but they actually expanded it recently for those who get it.

 

[skippercollector]

The Cincinnati Enquirer has always had one in its Sunday paper. It expanded the listings a little a few weeks ago, but still doesn't list overnights like it used to.

 

[Bluenoser]

...this is TV Media's second kick at the can in Halifax, it previosuly supplied listings for the now-defunct Halifax Daily News, which had previously used the Maritimes edition of TVG for the supplement...

No doubt during that time, the circulation for TV Guide during that time in the Halifax area was quite low, as no doubt many would buy the paper at the same price, if not less, than the TVG separately.

Likely the main reason the Daily News used TVG (IIRC it only lasted a few months, prior to the launch of its own dedicated TV supplement) was due to the paper and TVG being co-owned...it was the exact same copy as on the newstands or subscription, only with the paper's logo in the corner (and occasional publication in the paper of a dedicated converter guide for NS cablecos).