major changes for TV Guide

[zz5]

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/rec..._id=1000991796

TV Guide is changing its size and taking away local listings. I had always wondered how many people still use TV Guide for listings. There are just too many channels to list and the electronic methods are more and more prevalent.

[aperry]

Yeah, TV Guide magazine is all but dead. Very sad development there...

[flavius]

I bought like three issue over the past five years - always only to read specific articles like what happened to that bear andsoforth. I'd try a copy if the letters get bigger. They probably will.

[Ryokurin]

Theres TV Guide.com, The TV Guide channel and I bet if you research it they probably got some stock in Zap2It. its just getting with the times. For instance, I know people who actually sit down and watch the TV Guide Channel for the little shows they show on it now. They are probably figureing if they make the book more like a celebrity tabloid then people will buy it again.

[waynedunham]

It's a sad development IMHO. I still use TV Guide as a reference when I'm setting up my recordings for the coming week. Mostly I use it to check for new shows that I might be interested in.
I use MyTvInfo (U.S. Version of DigiGuide) and have a search set up for new shows. The search looks for several specific items in the show description (Debut, Premiere, etc) but sometimes it misses new shows if they either don't note it's a premiere or word it differently than I have my search set up for.
TV Guide was good because usually there was a blurb/ad somewhere on that days listings noting a premiere of a new show.

I guess I'll have to find another easy to use reference for new shows, or else possibly miss things I might be interested in.

Not to mention the waste that when the change takes effect I'll still have 6 months left on my subscription.

[aperry]

From what I read, it seems that the programming will still be listed, so I think it would have generic listings for each of the networks. It would show programming whenever you had national stuff (prime time, etc.), and would just put something like "Local Programming" to cover the other segments.

[src666]

All they are doing is moving to a full magazine sized format, and adding more articles. The price will go up, and number of buyers will go down, but advertising revenues will probably increase. The "guide" will still be in there, it just won't be 75% of the content anymore.

The loss of local listings won't affect too many people these days, since the networks control most of the "important" slots - daytime and primetime.