Rocky Mountain high

Brandweek, May 8, 2000 by Tony Case

By contrast, the Tribune has, in recent years, scaled back its distribution in outlying areas, choosing to focus on the core Tampa-St. Petersburg area. "You can't make a profit supporting circulation in an area where you're not going to get advertisers to buy," says Tribune publisher Reid Ashe.

The Times is by far the circulation leader (selling 314,427 copies through the week and 400,581 on Sunday, versus 211,055 and 300,738, respectively, for the Tribune). Both weekday and Sunday circ at the two papers declined during the period. Meanwhile, the Tribune peddles much more ad space: 2,683,024 full- and part-run inches last year, a slight, 2.4 percent drop from the previous year, according to CMR.

In Tampa-St. Petersburg, the consensus seems to be that, as in Denver, both papers are well-positioned to stay fat and happy, at least for the moment. The Tribune's Ashe sees the Tampa Bay newspaper war as the best kind of rivalry--in other words, one in which the players aren't bleeding each other dry. "It's competitive enough that it makes you better, but not so competitive that it erodes revenue," he says. "It's a good, healthy market."