While I was not at the forum at the ANF Conference in Melbourne this week which featured John Hartigan CEO of News and Greg Hywood CEO of Fairfax, I have heard from several people who were there.
The key message on the future of print and an impact on distribution appears to have been: we will do what is appropriate for our publishing businesses in dealing with change in print media. Feel that rationalisation of distribution is needed. That there will be no compensation for newsagents. Newsagents: you are on your own inn terms of your own businesses.
Some of us have been saying this for quite a while. We need to act in our best interests. What is galling is the restrictions applied by some News Limited outposts on newsagents who do try and act in their interests.
John Hartigan in his opening comments talked about recently being in the US and seeing Apple TV and noted that it is not in Australia. Um, it’s been here for three years.
Kudos to Hartigan and Hywood for fronting the conference.
i thought they did quite well , my wife and i did not agree with each other on this one . The way i understood it is they have a business to operate and if going digital is part of it then it has to happen . Just as print is no longer our only focus we cannot expect it to be theres either . while it did look like they where dodging a few questions or going around in circles i apreciate the fact that no one knows what the future holds so a simple yes or no question cannot be answerd so easily .
Shaun I agree that the publishers need to do what is right for their respective businesses. This is what the law requires of them. We need to do the same.
Any good business is worth 3-5 times earnings (real earnings). It’s up to us to grow the earnings through our own efforts if we want to protect the value of our business. If we are truly on our own – lets deteremine our own margins and delivery fees to suit our own business strategy.
I agree with Ricky. January 2012 sees the end of my Nationwide News contract.
If Nationwide News can offer customers a 50-60% discount, then I want that as well. I was given a take it or leave it option last time my contract was due. I asked for certain clauses to be changed and certain measures put in place to keep the run profitable. Yet they would not negotiate.
Next time around I will not negotiate, I would rather be a subagent.
While I respect the publishers need to do the best for their businesses I don’t think it is too much to ask that they show some semblence of corporate responsibility, afterall they have been allowed to operate a duopoly for a very long time on the backs of the newsagents.