Moves at B&C and Multichannel Don’t Bode Well for The TV Niche

This week brought to us the announcement of the firing of four top editorial staffers at Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News, the Reed TV books that have dominated the space for years.  Maybe “firing” is a strong word–it rarely happens these days.  Suffice to say, they were let go, cut loose…ankled?

Anyway, the TV trades are in big trouble.  Our own CableWorld (CW is an Access Intelligence book, which is parent to The Minsider) is down over 50% on the year in ad pages.  The traditional advertisers, cable networks, no longer need to advertise in trade publications to reach the carriers.  Most networks already have almost complete saturation, and their sales departments can effectively reach all nationwide carriers by making phone calls.

What CW and other need to do is reposition both from a sales and editorial perspective.  There are (and have been for years) many emerging technologies that are changing the way carriers do business.  Those technology vendors are perfect targets for a new advertising base.