TV Guide – Nice New Format – Wrong Time Zone (1 Viewer)

[Jay Taylor]

I just received the new TV Guide magazine and like the large format. To me it’s easier to read, easier to find the program schedule and seems more attractive than the previous small format.

Unfortunately all times are listed in the Eastern Time Zone rather than the Central Time Zone where I live. :frowning:

 

[Bryan X]

Yeah, the new format is nice. We'll see how much they jack up the price when it comes time to renew. Right now I'm receiving it for 21 cents per issue.

I noticed the insert in the issue advertised it for 99 cents per issue. I don't think the new look is worth 5 times what I'm paying now....

 

[Jay Taylor]

I received a renewal notice last month & it is 91 cents per issue with a 2-year renewal or 93 cents per issue with a 1-year renewal.

This is the same price I paid for renewal two years ago.

Bryan are you sure you got it for 21 cents per issue? They give you the option of making 4 payments instead of paying it in full which may be a confusion factor.

 

[Bryan X]

No, it really was 21 cents per issue. There was an online offer back after the beginning of the year for a full 52 weeks at about 24 cents an issue ($12 for the whole year), and then if you paid by CC they added a few extra issues to knock it down to .21 cents. They ran the promotion for a few months. Haven't seen it quite that cheap since about April.

On the TV Guide website, Jay, you can get it at 50 cents an issue if you pay by credit card. Now that's not too bad. Not much more than twice what I paid for the smaller size.

 

[Shane Martin]

I'll let our executives know

Thanks

I don't work for the magazine division but I'm curious how this thing will turn out.

 

[Chris_Morris]

I'm not too crazy about it, but I'm not paying much for it.

Original deal was .25/issue, got another year for only $5, and two free year deals (one through the Everybody Loves Raymond season set) brought the price down to around .12/issue. Not sure if I'll renew, but I've still got three years to decide.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

There are free TV listings online & in newspapers. I never understood why people pay for TV Guide.

 

[Jay Taylor]

Thanks for the link Bryan. My subscription is good until March 6, 2006 so I'll let it expire & try that credit card option.

I tried once before to let my subscription expire & then use a promotional rate but they wouldn't let me. Maybe they will this time with the automatic annual renewal by credit card option.

However, if they don't start showing times in my time zone then I probably won't renew.

 

[Ric Easton]

People don't pay for newspapers?

As for TV Guide. I don't like it. It took forever for me to find the actual listings, and they were all on grids. There were no local channel listings, just by network. This means no info on local programming or syndicated shows (like when does Stargate SG-1 play on my UPN station?). Apparently, if you want complete local listings you can look them up on TV Guide's website. Somehow that doesn't seem as handy to me as having the thing sitting on my coffee table... in front of the TV!

In my opinion, TV Guide has tried to re-invent itself as Entertainment Weekly.

Thumbs down!

Ric

 

[Bryan X]

I agree with you Ric. I used to love TV Guide but will not renew. It's not as useful as it used to be. As you said, it's basically become an 'Entertainment Weekly' clone.

I don't like the fact that it doesn't have local listings anymore. One grid for Mon-Fri daytime is awful. Also, I couldn't even find a listing for Sunday (except for primetime).

Too bad.

 

[Ric Easton]

I work at a TV station. Once in awhile I get to work on a primetime special. Those programs will no longer be listed in TV Guide. They also used to allow for local TV advertising... No more.

Jeers to TV Guide! They really screwed the pooch on this one.

 

[Todd K]

Double jeers to the new guide.

I guess I will have to investigate how good my local paper's weekly printed TV listings are. Not everyone has an interactive programming guide and even if they did, there is still something to be said for having a hard copy in front of you. As Ric said, sometimes it's easiest to just pick up the book. It's the reason why the internet hasn't completely replaced the newspaper.

I welcome all the new features but not at the expense of local information.

 

[Ric Easton]

I don't know why, but I'm also gonna miss these kinds of ads for specific episodes...



Did I hear they are greatly cutting back on the number of issues that they print? I just don't get it why they thought they needed to change, unless it is a major cost cutting move.

To me the mag has lost much of its charm.

 

[Don Giro]

I hate, hate, HATE the new format.

I already read Entertainment Weekly. TV Guide seems closer to "Us" magazine now.

The TV listings almost seem like an afterthought: "Oh, look, we threw in a few TV listing tables in case you want to watch TV, but only if you watch during prime time."

And what's with "For more listings, visit TV Guide dot com"? The point of subscribing to TV Guide is to have a COMPLETE guide to the week's TV broadcasts. Why should I have to boot my PC if I need to know what's on at 2 AM?

 

[Jay Taylor]

After using the new TV Guide for about 6 weeks now I have decided that it definitely sucks and I’ll drop my subscription when it expires.

Still no local listings & they still don’t list times in my time zone. Sure it’s easy to subtract one hour from the time listed but all it takes is forgetting to do so once and your evening viewing plans are screwed. You also have to let guests know that the times are in Eastern Standard Time or they’ll miss what they want to see.

Since TV Guide doesn’t care enough about my subscription to list show times in my time zone and then expects me to boot up my computer & get local programming off the Internet then I won’t care enough to renew.

Since their change can cause a two-decade subscriber like myself to dump them I wonder what is going to happen to their total subscription count after current subscriptions expire?

 

[Bryan X]

I agree. The new format sucks. The worst part is the no local listings. I like to see what sports are being broadcast on the local networks, but can't do that with the mag now.

Also, they don't even have listings for Saturday or Sunday during the day.

My sub will also not be renewed. Too bad. I have such fond memories of this once great mag over the past 30 years.