By: Joe Strupp The Sarasota (Fla.) Herald-Tribune Media Group laid off 48 people and cut home delivery to two area communities in a cost-cutting move, the paper revealed Wednesday.
The circulation pullback affects home delivery in Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda and will occur in March, according to the story.
To ease the delivery pullback into effect, the newspaper is making its Herald-Tribune E-Edition available for free online through Aug. 31.
"We will make that free trial available to everybody," Publisher Diane McFarlin said in the story, adding that after Aug. 31, those who are interested will be offered a low-cost subscription to the service.
"Faced with declining revenues from traditional advertising, the Herald-Tribune has gradually trimmed its employee population to 350, 40 percent fewer than at the height of the region's real estate boom three years ago," the paper reported.
The paper also reported that 31 of the 48 job cuts took place at the SNN News 6, the newspaper's 24-hour local cable outlet. Staffers there received severance packages Tuesday after being furloughed a week ago.
"In November, the Herald-Tribune announced that it was exploring a sale of the station to LDB Media LLC, a company run by SNN general manager Linda DesMarais and her husband, Doug Barker," the paper reported. "That deal could still go through with a re-launch of SNN in coming weeks. Asked whether she had enough investors lined up, DesMarais said, 'We are very close.'"
McFarlin said, "We are certainly open to revisiting the deal under the terms we have negotiated if Linda and Doug are able to get everything in place within a couple of weeks."
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here