This TV Guide column was written by me for MagWorld Magazine. MagWorld was put together by the journalism classes as part of our course requirements. Although it's not about hockey if you're checking out my blog have a quick read.
The Canadian TV Guide vanished from newspaper stands after standing tall for over 30 years. When it came to television listings or program descriptions the TV Guide magazine was the industry leader. In 2002 they were producing over 430, 000 issues of the magazine. Unfortunately those numbers decreased steadily over the next four years. In what is now being known as the iPod generation of today, many television viewers are looking to the Internet or their free interactive programming guide to find their favourite show times and program descriptions. In November of 2006 Transcontinental Media Inc. made the decision to turn the print magazine into a completely free web publication. When Canada was running a total circulation of merely 243, 000 copies in 2006, Transcontinental Media decided they had to make a change. Shortly after the removal of the print magazine Transcontinental Media President Natalie Lariviere sent out a press release stating that the move to take the TV Guide off of newsstands is part of a business plan that would see close to ten million dollars being invested into digital properties through 2010. The business investment is called Evolution 2010. They changed over to online to make them the essential source for Canadians to find their television entertainment updates and program listings.
In 2004 the TV Guide took a turn for the worst. They tried to revamp their entire magazine as a way of competing with the satellite and digital companies. With digital cable and satellite companies such as Rogers, Star Choice and Bell ExpressVu implementing free program guides into their services at no extra cost, interest in the magazine was lost. They remodeled it and made it look more like an entertainment magazine rather than a TV Guide. The magazine could never recover from its downfall in 2004 and sales continued to decrease. As a way of keeping the TV Guide alive they made the decision to move it online and they have never looked back. By moving their print version online, the TV Guide website was able to provide more options for readers with numerous links related to entertainment and lifestyle information.
Not only are the free interactive program guides taking away from the interest in print listings, but the Internet has grown to be an important tool when searching for entertainment and television information. The new generation of online websites does not only include television listings and entertainment updates, they are also attracting viewers and readers to their website by publishing feature profiles on television stars, movie reviews, lifestyle columns on food, shopping, health and home decoration. The online editions are becoming more popular and user friendly because of the amount of options available when logging on to these websites. Logging on to the newly vamped TV Guide website at www.tvguide.ca, will provide you with quick and easy access to all your favourite television listings, program information, show updates and entertainment information.
With the print generation slowly declining, the iPod generation is just becoming.
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