TV Guide Signs Newspaper Deals

TV Guide announced today that it has struck agreements with Variety and a pair of newspapers to syndicate its program listings grid, part of what the magazine is characterizing as an aggressive push to syndicate its content.

One of the deals, with the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, gives the newspaper the rights to use a TV Guide-branded television listings grid on in its daily print and electronic versions, as well as on its Web site. TV Guide is also entering a marketing partnership with the newspaper to sell TV Guide magazine to their subscribers who want a standalone weekly listings magazine.

The newspaper, like the Chicago Sun-Times and others around the country, recently discontinued its TV listings book. The Star-Tribune has a daily circulation of approximately of 370,000, 620,000 on Sunday.

"It's no secret that newspapers don't make money with their Sunday TV books," says John Geiger, TV Guide's VP of consumer marketing. "This is a creative way for them to appease the customers who still want them."

The Star-Tribune is paying a small monthly fee for the rights, Geiger says.

The magazine plans to aggressively seek out similar partnerships with other newspapers, he adds.

TV Guide also announced that it has agreed to allow the use of its branded grid on Variety.com, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer to use TV Guide editorial content on its Web site and in e-media offerings.

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