We mentioned ASG parent corporation Source Interlink Cos. a couple weeks ago when their owner Ron Burkle bought an 8.5 percent share of Barnes & Noble Booksellers. Now, the company has announced that beginning February 1, 2009 they are joining Anderson News in charging a 7-cent fee per issue of magazines delivered to the newsstand regardless of the sell through, according to a story in the NY Post.
The remaining big distributors – Jimmy Pattison’s News Group, based in Atlanta and Vancouver, British Columbia, and New York-based Hudson News – have not sought a fee hike.. . . But if all magazine distributors follow suit, publishers worry it could sock them with an additional $1 billion a year in expenses at a time when they are contending with plunging advertising revenue and sagging newsstand sales.
Of course, magazines could easily cover these increased costs by simply cutting a few more editorial positions. . . and maybe the ASG titles will get a synergistic freeride.
