You only have to look at the pitch from News Corp. to understand where they are focused for their future distribution channel.
The tablet is the distribution mechanism. It is faster, cheaper, more accurate in placement and more current than the current method of printing, stacking, putting in a truck, driving to the distribution newsagent, them unbundling, rolling, loading the delivery vehicle and going out on the road to deliver news that is hours out of date.
These are the facts.
Newsagents need to invest in distribution knowing the focus of publishers. Yes, there is enjoyment from turning the page, not needing a device to read the news and being able to easily dive into a section you like. The thing is, the distribution platform is no longer commercially viable.
Interesting strategy. Worldwide tablet sales were down -12% last quarter, the 7th consecutive quarter of negative growth. This decline is faster than that of newspaper circulation.
Not sure that an inferior model of a piece of technology that is rapidly decreasing in popularity is going to sell many subscriptions….