Knight Ridder buys 5 SF Bay Area free newspapers

[Newsjock]

http://www.paloaltodailynews.com/

Tuesday Feb. 15, 5:30 pm PT

Knight Ridder today announced the acquisition of five daily free-distribution newspapers in the Peninsula south of San Francisco. The five are: the Palo Alto Daily News, San Mateo Daily News, Redwood City Daily News, Burlingame Daily News and Los Gatos Daily News.

The newspapers, which together comprise the assets of Priceless LLC, are daily publications with a combined circulation of more than 55,000. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Tony Ridder, chairman and CEO of Knight Ridder, said, "Our media strategy is to give customers what they want, in print and online. In today's world, customers want many kinds of publications, as evidenced by the great proliferation of free-distribution newspapers, shoppers, lifestyle magazines and publications specializing in autos, real estate and employment. Increasingly, Knight Ridder is in all of those businesses -- and will become more so in the near future."

... Knight Ridder (NYSE: KRI - News) is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with products in print and online. The company publishes 31 daily newspapers in 28 U.S. markets, with a readership of 9.0 million daily and 12.7 million Sunday. Knight Ridder also has investments in a variety of Internet and technology companies and two newsprint companies. The company's Internet operation, Knight Ridder Digital, develops and manages the company's online properties. It is the founder and operator of Real Cities(www.RealCities.com), the largest national network of city and regional Web sites in more than 105 U.S. markets. Knight Ridder and Knight Ridder Digital are headquartered in San Jose, Calif.

[Book Lover]

1. Hmmmmmm

I'll be looking at SMDN closely tomorrow... Frankly, the SMDN is already not good at covering local news, so I'm not sure we're losing that much. Time will tell.

[Syrinx]

2. okay, so the mainstream are buying up the alternative media

So maybe the original publishers can use the money to start up new alternatives that are bigger and better. (Looking for a bright side.)

[Book Lover]

3. No, these are not alternative papers

They are daily local happenings papers ("Local Hardware Store Closes after 30 Years") that carry syndicated columns and AP/NYT/LAT stories.

[Syrinx]

8. I stand corrected

Thanks to you and Newsjock! :hi:

[Newsjock]

5. These aren't really "alternative" papers

They're news-oriented dailies that happen to be free. All tabloid-size, relying on AP for what limited nation/world coverage they run.

But chock full of ads, delivered at prices the larger competition is unable to offer.

[alittlelark]

6. I live here. The only 'bright side' is the fact that many

who live here will not eat the swill they will start feeding us (Stanford/Berkley zone).

[countmyvote4real]

9. If they signed a no-compete clause., they will not return.

Selling out is selling out. I don't mean to crap on your parade: it''s a good idea. Unfortunately, I doubt that it will turn out that way.

[libodem]

4. that's next

[flordehinojos]

7. knight ridder which publishes the Miami Herald in Miami is today a very

right wing bush supporters' den newspaper...(it did not used to be right wing the l960s and early seventies) ... this buy out may not be a very good thing for freedom of thought, freedom of speech and freedom of the press in california.

[EFerrari]

10. When did it become open season on California?

Next, we'll have to check and see how many evangelical congregations just happened to open their doors in the last coupla years. Oy.