TRIB costs $1.99 on Thanksgiving

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: The CHICAGO TRIBUNE doesn`t really sell that many newspapers on the street on Thanksgiving day, but if you try to buy one this Thursday, it will cost you $1.99. That`s the first time I can remember paying a Sunday price for a weekday newspaper. : : Tribune, Scripps Use Thanksgiving to Increase Prices : By Greg Bensinger : Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Tribune Co., E.W. Scripps Co. and a U.S. newspaper industry suffering record declines in advertising sales and circulation will raise prices on Thanksgiving as readers seek inserts touting holiday discounts. : U.S. Thanksgiving falls on Nov. 26 this year. Newspapers from Washington to San Bernardino, California, will be charging Sunday prices for Thursday editions stuffed with ads for the retail bargains on offer on "Black Friday," the day after Thanksgiving and the traditional start of the U.S. holiday shopping season. : "It's a once-in-a-year sort of event for us," said Mark Contreras, senior vice president of newspapers for E.W. Scripps, publisher of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. "The Thanksgiving paper in every place we offer it is the biggest newspaper of the year." : The sales jolt is especially welcome this year, when newspapers have slashed staff, pared sections, sold assets and reduced coverage to cope with a 30 percent plunge in print ad sales in the first nine months. More than one-third of U.S. newspapers charge a premium on the U.S. holiday, according to Newspaper Association of America data. : Tribune's flagship Chicago newspaper may see a fourfold increase in circulation on Nov. 26, said Kate Mersman, a spokeswoman. The Tribune will more than double its single-copy price to $1.99, from 75 cents, on Thanksgiving, Mersman said. The edition reaches four times the weekday average, she said. : Circulation Jumps : Contreras said each of Cincinnati-based Scripps's newspapers will charge the Sunday price, ranging from $1 to $2. Scripps' circulation across its newspapers jumps to about 195,000 on Thanksgiving from about 87,000 on a typical Thursday, according to Lee Rose, a spokeswoman. : "Frankly, I don't know why you wouldn't charge more," Contreras said. : MediaNews Group Inc., based in Denver, will also charge Sunday prices at some newspapers, including the Salt Lake Tribune and the Sun of San Bernardino, Stephen Hesse, vice president of circulation, said in an interview. : "You lose some readers because of the price, but that more than makes up for itself in revenue," said Hesse. "There's real value in that paper because it has advertising inserts for the entire shopping season." : Average weekday circulation fell 11 percent to 30.4 million in the six months through September from the period a year earlier, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. That compares with a 7.1 percent drop in the period through March. : ABC, based in Schaumburg, Illinois, doesn???t have data on single-copy sales for Thanksgiving because publishers don't break it out, said Neal Lulofs, a spokesman. : "Extraordinary" Volume : Washington Post Co.'s namesake newspaper will sell on Thanksgiving for $1.50, the regular Sunday price, up from 75 cents on regular weekdays, said Kris Coratti, a spokeswoman. The newspaper sells "in volumes comparable with other Thursdays, which is extraordinary considering commuter traffic is near absent on Thanksgiving," she said. : McClatchy Co.'s Kansas City Star is increasing its Thanksgiving price to $2 from 75 cents and will charge regular weekday subscribers $1.25 for the edition. The treasurer, Elaine Lintecum, said the Sacramento, California-based publisher doesn't discuss corporate pricing strategy. : The Riverside Press-Enterprise is raising its price to the Sunday rate on Nov. 27, the day after Thanksgiving, said James Moroney, executive vice president of the newspaper's owner, Dallas-based A.H. Belo Corp. : E.W. Scripps lost 3 cents to $6.63 and Washington Post fell $5.90 to $410.01 at 4:04 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. McClatchy declined 8 cents to $2.92 and A.H. Belo gained 36 cents to $4.76. : Last Updated: November 24, 2009 16:37 EST

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