Newspaper Flips Off Some TV Viewers

Today it is possible to sit down in front of the big screen and peruse channel listings to find out what's on, then select the show that interests you. Or you can use your remote and go channel-flipping.

The first option works great if you have digital cable or a satellite dish. For the rest of us who are stuck with either analog cable or broadcast TV, we usually have a little magazine located next to the couch to tell us what's on.

Not any more. The Minneapolis Star Tribune, in its never-ending quest to cut corners in its news coverage in the name of making more money while claiming to serve its readers, is discontinuing its Sunday TV Week magazine in November. However, they are offering subscriptions to TV Guide magazine, which will now provide the program listings on the newspaper's web site.

Besides, the Strib seems to be forgetting the number one reason why people still buy the Sunday paper in the first place: It's for the TV listings.

Have you seen TV Guide lately? (Disclosure: I am a subscriber.) Since they switched to a larger size a couple of years ago, local listings were eliminated, and TV coverage has been sacrificed in favor of celebrity gossip and who has the hots for whom on shows you don't care about. They seem to have forgotten that women aren't the only people who watch TV.

Having no local listings makes it tough for independents and PBS member stations to get noticed by viewers. In the case of KTCA (Channel 2), also known as TPT, they don't carry PBS programs at the same time the network does--especially during pledge drives.

The Star Tribune, in its message announcing the demise of TV Week, put in a line thanking the readers for their loyalty. In light of what owner Avista Capital Partners has done to the newspaper in the past few months, we think loyalty is a two-way street. If the Star Tribune isn't loyal to its readers, then why should readers be loyal to the Star Tribune?