New TV listing magazine in the UK, TV Pick, is dropping its cover price from 40p to 20p next week. Through the launch period, newsagents are on a 90% margin. I am not sure I’d jump at a short term gain from a title that could well cause losses in the long term.
I can understand why publisher Northern and Shell, is using a combination of cover price and bonus margin to grab prime retail space. It’s disruptive. The challenge is that it could come back and bite them over time.
The only price pressure we see here in Australia at present is the package deals from Bauer and, for the most part at the moment, these are outside the newsagency channel.
Lets hope this type of pricing war NEVER hits us here in Australia.
Northern and Shell also owns a number of UK TV channels, so the planned benefits to them may well go beyond magazine sales.