Yet sooner or later everything changes, nothing ever stays the same. Once in a great while a change is a good one but the change the Seattle Times Newspaper made is really ticking a lot of people (mostly seniors) off. For almost a month during June it was on TV and in the paper that the TV section would be changing. It would be so easy to find our favorite programs or something similar. I admit I did not pay a lot of attention to what they said but they said to watch for the big change that would occur in July. The change was they DO NOT HAVE A TV SECTION ANYMORE. I searched and searched and finally got ticked off and a mailed. They were very courteous and answered my a mail explaining that very few people used the TV section and they would help me get a reduced price to subscribe to TV weekly. I tried to Google TV weekly to find the price but they want to send you a free copy so you can decide to subscribe. The Seattle Times raised its subscription rates too. I know there are fancy phones, fancy remotes, all kinds of gadgets that if one knew how they could find out what time a program was coming on. But for me, that’s a different story. My routine was to spread out the TV section. for example I would see on the page what time Dancing with the Stars would be on. Sometimes 8, sometimes 2 hours, sometimes 1 or 3 hours. I could compare what shows would be on the same time and decide. I don’t even know what shows are on and have no way to compare anything. Go ahead and say that’s the price a person pays for getting old and set in their ways BUT everyone I know that are royally ticked are just cancelling their subscription to the paper. I am still dickering with them, because they offered to send me a free subscription for awhile to see if I like TV weekly. If you call the number they give it is automatic answering saying they realize you are upset etc etc, but you cant talk to a human, so they did not put that recording on just for me.
After thinking it over I think they wanted people to stop taking the paper, and that was sure one way to do it. They want you to subscribe on line. They don’t want to print a paper at all. Why would you need to subscribe to it even on line? You can get the news on TV, you can get the news on the internet. You can print out your free coupons on line. It just boggles my mind. I looked forward to putting on my old bath robe, shuffling to the porch to get the paper. Then I either take it back to bed with me or on my deck with my cup of coffee. What will I use in the bottom of my bird cage? What will I use to start my fire with on a cold winter morning?
“The Seattle Times”, pretty well put themselves in the position they put the PI in and it went belly up. The changing of the times this time was not an improvement at all.
Their (Seattle Times) official response to me personally about the removal of Seattle TV Times Magazine is below:
Thank you for taking the time to contact us and let us know about your concerns for this recent change in the TV listings publication.
There were two primary reasons for this change.
With the increasing use by consumers of cable directories, relatively very few people continue to use a printed guide, so in essence we have been spending resources to provide to all readers a product that is not utilized by the majority of our subscribers. It makes more sense, given limited resources, for us to focus resources on content that is much more widely read by our audiences.
Secondly, our TV Times magazine was limited, but due to the relatively small audience for this product, we were unable to provide enhanced content in this product for those who value it. Our partner, TV Weekly is an experienced organization with a track record of providing an excellent product for over 25 years. While this will be a paid subscription, it will be available at a significant discount to our Seattle Times subscribers. In addition, our plan is to work with TV Weekly and provide value added coupons that will save you more than the weekly subscription cost.
As with all change, the new format and style of TV weekly is different than what you are accustomed to, however given a try it might become friendlier and easier to navigate. If you will decide to reconsider your subscription, I can offer you a courtesy subscription to TV weekly, should you like to try it for the next 26 weeks at no cost to you. It would give you additional time to explore and use the TV weekly, to see if it’s something you might like to subscribe to in the future.
Please let me know if you’d like to take me up on this offer, so I can process your request; or get back to me to process a STOP.
Sincerely,
Customer Service Specialist
The Seattle Times
LLL
How do I get the free subscription? if not free, then how do I subscribe?