'Bay Guardian' Sues New Times Chain For Predatory Pricing

By: Mark Fitzgerald Bruce B. Brugmann's family-owned San Francisco Bay Guardian Tuesday filed suit yesterday in a California court, charging it has been the victim of predatory pricing of advertising by its local competitors, the SF Weekly and East Bay Express, as well as their Phoenix-based owner, the big alternative publisher New Times Newspapers.

"Our suit alleges that the Weekly and Express have systematically sold ads below cost, in violation of California law, in an effort to put the Bay Guardian out of business," Brugmann, editor and co-publisher, and Jean Dibble, co-publisher, said in a joint statement.

The lawsuit also alleges that the two New Times papers "has offered secret discounts to key advertisers in order to keep them from advertising in the Bay Guardian."

"New Times, like many big corporate chains, is breaking the law and using its considerable national resources in an effort to destroy a locally owned competitor so it will have the San Francisco alternative weekly market to itself," Brugmann said in the statement.

A story in Wednesday's issue of the Bay Guardian by Executive Editor Tim Redmond reports that the venerable alternative paper formally complained to SF Weekly and New Times about predatory pricing as long ago as Jan. 11, 2002. As Brugmann and Dibble tell it in their long statement, they were driven to sue.

"We take this action reluctantly and after much discussion and deliberation," they said. "We don't dislike competition. We thrive on it. But we believe that competitors should play fair -- and New Times, like many big corporate chains, is breaking the law and using its considerable national resources in an effort to destroy a locally owned competitor so it will have the San Francisco alternative weekly market to itself."

E-mail messages sent Tuesday night seeking comment from New Times Executive Editor Michael Lacey and Legal Counsel Steve Suskin were not immediately answered.

New Times publishes alternative papers in 11 cities and owns the Ruxton Group, a national advertising rep firm specializing in alternative papers.