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Fairfax fights back in row with newsagents over new TV guide

Fairfax has responded to frustrations voiced by newsagents last week over its new two-in-one television guide, telling Mumbrella that newsagents stand to gain an extra $1.5m a year from selling and distributing The Guide, a merged publication from the The Sun-Herald and the Monday edition of The Sydney Morning Herald.

The main concerns for the Newsagents Association of NSW and ACT is that The Guide will prove to be a costly and labourious excercise for which it feels newsagents will not be fairly compensated.

Peter Fray, publisher and editor-in-chief of The Sydney Morning Herald, said: “We will be paying newsagents an extra $1.5 million per year for selling and delivering The Guide. At a time when publishers elsewhere are reporting falls in home deliveries, we are introducing a new revenue stream which will be paid on total copies supplied to newsagents, not just home delivered copies. Fairfax also has the highest cover prices as well as highest commission and fee rate card of any publisher.”

In response to NANA’s complaints that newsagents were not consulted before announcing the launch, Fray said that Fairfax informed its delivery and retail contractors “in accordance with the terms of our contract ahead of the introduction of The Guide as a new publication from May 8.”

He added that NANA is not a party to Fairfax’s contracts and in the past has “actively encouraged its membership to cease home delivery services.”

NANA’s president Andrew Packham last week called on advertisers to avoid The Guide, which he said would probably not be delivered on time, if at all, because of the logistical task of having to ask customers whether they wanted the title on either Sunday or Monday, and inserting it accordingly.

But Fray said that advertisers were responding positively to the launch. “It will now be a unique, engaged audience as every person who receives The Guide from May 8 will have made a decision to pick it up or have it delivered. We believe that offers very good value to advertisers.”

He added: “With 85 reviews and recommendations each issue from our highly respected team of reviewers, we hope to be able to win over some readers who currently use electronic or other printed guides.”

Fairfax and NANA held a meeting yesterday, with both Fray and Packham present, but neither party would comment on the outcome.

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