ONdigital To Take On TV Listings Market With ON7

ONdigital is to take on the highly competitive TV listings magazine market on 3 March by launching a new customer magazine with full listings and a weekly, rather than monthly, output. ON7 will be the first magazine to carry full listings for all the digital free to air channels as well as for all the pay TV channels carried on the ON platform.

Gabrielle Simcocks, ONdigital’s director of relationship marketing said, “Customers will now just need ON7 to plan their viewing. We couldn’t carry the free to air channels like BBC1 and ITV in our monthly guide. Going weekly will allow us to be bang up to date with those channels, as well as with all our own channels.”

The title will not be available in shops, but will go out to all ONdigital customers from launch, giving it an initial print run equal to ONdigital’s subscriber base of over one million and an estimated readership of 2 million. This will place it behind only top title What’s On TV, which has a circulation of 1.7m, and Radio Times, which has a circulation of 1.3m. The first four issues are to be delivered free to all subscribers, with the price thereafter being 39p, including delivery.

Six different editions of the magazine will cover regional variations, with the content besides listings including news, celebrity interviews, gossip, film and sport. The launch editor is Bill Hagerty.

ONdigital’s plans are almost directly opposite to Sky’s reaction to the advent of digital television. Following the success of its Electronic Programme Guide (EPG), Sky decided last year to scrap its customer magazine altogether (see TV Listings Magazines Still Top Choice For Viewers), despite research showing that magazines remained viewers’ favoured source of listings information.

ONdigital: 020 7819 8000 www.ondigital.co.uk

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