Sunday 20 January 2008

$1 a week Sun

We thought the Toronto Star's $1.67-a-week home delivery last fall was one to beat, but the Toronto Sun has topped it with $1-a-week delivery in selected areas.

The seven day, buck-a-week offer, good for 30 weeks, is for new customers in the 416 area code, Durham, York and Peel (beginning Jan. 28).

In the cold, snowy days of January, that is an offer Sun readers will find difficult to refuse. Readers beyond the offer area will still have to brave the winter elements to get their Sun.

Sun home delivery wasn't an option in the early years and it was Sundays only home delivery until a couple of years ago. Daily home delivery is apparently popular, with Peel being added.

It's the numbers game for all of the Toronto papers with home delivery. A subscriber is a subscriber, even if it is for the loss leader price of $1 a week.

The Sun needs the numbers to keep the advertisers happy.

Home delivery for the Sun is relatively new in the competitive Toronto print media market.

In the 1970s, Sun management viewed the daily paper as strictly a commuter newspaper, thus the 15-year delay in introducing a Saturday edition (Sept. 13, 1986).

In 2008, with store and street sales, seven-day home delivery and Internet access, exposure to the tabloid has never been more intense.

Who knew in 1971 a Peter Worthington column would someday be accessed by Internet users around the world and dissected by media bloggers?

A world audience for the profitable Toronto Sun. The reality of 21st century journalism makes us giddy.

Doug Creighton would be pleased.

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