Katie Erdman / Times Editor
These are difficult times. We are all feeling it and realizing that we need to take care in many ways, not just with our health but also our finances. To do this we have to be careful about how we spend our money and to watch the bottom line when it comes to our businesses.
That is exactly what we are doing here at the Stevens County Times and one of the reasons you are no longer seeing the TV Guide page in the newspaper. We have been printing this in the paper for many years, pretty much at a loss to the business. We have had a sponsor for the page, which was the Morris Theatre, but that sponsorship was based on a trade-off for advertising on-screen prior to movies at the theatre.
The theatre is now temporarily closed. The cost for the TV Guide page continues to go on and it is not cheap. We have attempted to find a sponsor but thus far have not been able to do so. Everyone is cutting back on advertising and hesitant to take on new commitments.
Therefore, we made the very difficult decision to discontinue running the page. We realize that most people who have cable also have access to a TV Guide through their provider and regular listings on screen. However, there are also people who still use antennas and other methods for their TV channels.
We are hearing from you and have heard in no uncertain terms how upset you are about this. I have taken several of these calls, as have others in the office. Some have gone as far as saying they plan to cancel their subscription if we don’t bring it back. Unfortunately, the price of that person resubscribing to the newspaper will not cover our cost for even one week of the TV page.
What distresses me the most is that people are basically saying that is all they get out of the newspaper each week. I am disappointed that they are not reading any other part as we work very hard to provide interesting and informative articles each week. We look for new story ideas and try to get good pictures to share.
We will miss your subscription if you cancel. We need to protect our bottom line and be able to pay our employees. We hope to bring the TV page back in the future and will continue to look for a sponsor.