NewPage Raises Coated and SC Prices

NewPage has announced a price increase, effective with all new and existing orders with confirmed delivery dates of July 1 or later, on the following grades:

an increase of $2.00/cwt on coated mechanical papers Capri® web and Consoweb® web

and an increase of $2.50/cwt on Supercalendered papers Voyager® web andSuperior Gloss® web.

The changes apply to all basis weights and finishes.

UPM Reports Coated and SC Price Increases

UPM has announced price increases, effective with all orders delivering on or after July 1, for all basis weights and finishes, on the following grades:
an increase of $2.00/cwt on No. 5 coated mechanical UPM Cote and UPM Cote Plus,
an increase of $2.50/cwt on SC-A paper UPM Max, UPM Cat and UPM Smart and
an increase of $3.00/cwt on SC-B paper UPM Eco (excluding UPM Eco Lite and Eco X).
The announcement follows changes made by Irving, Port Hawkesbury and NewPage.

Data Takes Center Stage at ABM Conference

http://www.foliomag.com/2013/data-takes-center-stage-abms-annual-conference#.UYEnX4KYyKw

Over the last three days, close to 200 b-to-b media executives convened here for ABM's 2013 Annual Conference. After an 83-3 member vote in favor of the association's merger with the SIIA, the conference kicked off featuring sessions that repeatedly hit on the growing importance of customer data as a key to cross-platform media success.
The nature of what b-to-b media companies do now extends across multiple platforms—confounding any central defining characteristic.

Bonnier Sells Mountain Group

http://www.adweek.com/news/press/bonnier-sells-snow-sport-titles-active-interest-media-149054

Bonnier Corp. is taking another whack at its portfolio again, selling its Mountain Group to enthusiast publisher Active Interest Media. CEO Dave Freygang said that selling the group, consisting of snow sport titles Ski and Skiing and Warren Miller Entertainment, would let Bonnier focus on its businesses in California, New York and Florida.

RRD/Northern Tool, The Sportsman's Guide Agreement

RRD Awarded Multi-Year Multi-Million Dollar Agreement by Northern Tool, The Sportsman's Guide: R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company today announced that it has been awarded a multi-year multi-million dollar agreement that extends and expands its relationship with Northern Tool + Equipment, The Sportsman's Guide and The Golf Warehouse. Northern Tool + Equipment acquired both The Sportsman's Guide and The Golf Warehouse in December 2012.

Quad/Graphics Invests in Pixability

Quad/Graphics Invests in Pixability to Tackle Online Video Market: Quad/Graphics Inc., a leading global printer and media channel integrator, has purchased a minority interest in Pixability, a YouTube-certified marketing and advertising company that works with brands, e-commerce firms and agencies to improve video marketing results. Leading brand marketers and publishers will have access to a powerful solution that allows them to easily and effectively incorporate online video with any of their marketing channels to engage prospects and customers—from awareness to action through to customer support.

Timeless Communications Buys Symphony Publishing

Timeless Communications Corp. Acquires Symphony Publishing:
Four new titles will be added to the portfolio of Timeless Communications Corp., a Nevada-based b-to-b publisher serving the international live event technology and theater markets, with the acquisition of Symphony Publishing, the company announced Tuesday.
The newly acquired titles, which include Musical Merchandise Review, JazzEd, Choral Director and School Band & Orchestra, serve the musical instrument and music education markets. The brands join the company’s existing assets, Projection Lights and Staging News, Front of House and Stage Directions.
Terms of the deal have not been released.

Newspaper Circ Down, WSJ, NYT Top Two

http://www.adweek.com/news/press/new-york-times-surpasses-usa-today-no-2-daily-149039

U.S. newspapers continue to shed circulation, even as they grow their digital audiences. According to the new Snapshot report from the Alliance for Audited Media (AAM) covering the six months ended March 31, daily circ (including print, digital and, in some cases, branded editions) decreased 0.7 percent year over year, while Sunday circulation declined 1.4 percent.

Among the top dailies, The Wall Street Journal kept its No. 1 position with a total average circ of 2.4 million, up 12.3 percent over March 2012. The New York Times jumped 17.6 percent to 1.9 million in total circulation, overtaking USA Today for second place. (Growth at the Times was mostly digital.

Last year, its print and digital circulation were about equal, but this past year, digital circ increased 40 percent to 1.1 million while print circ declined 6 percent to 731,395.)

USA Today's total average circulation declined 7.9 percent year over year to 1.7 million, knocking it from second to third place. The Los Angeles Times (up 6 percent) and New York Daily News (down 11 percent) rounded out the top five.
The Times remained the biggest daily newspaper in terms of digital circulation, followed by The Wall Street Journal (digital circ rose 62 percent to 898,102), USA Today (up 116 percent to 249,900), the New York Post (up 37 percent to 200,571) and the Denver Post (up 28 percent to 192,805).

Macmillan Settles Suit

http://news.yahoo.com/macmillan-pay-26-million-settle-antitrust-class-action-235221485.html

Publishing house Macmillan moved on Friday to settle a raft of antitrust suits accusing it of conspiring with other publishers to raise e-book prices, hammering out a $26 million settlement with a group of states and individuals, court filings show. 

The agreement requires Macmillan to pay not only a $20 million fine, but legal fees and a small award as well to the individual plaintiffs for their participation.

Four of the five publishers named in the suits, including Pearson Plc's Penguin Group, News Corp's
HarperCollins Publishers Inc and CBS Corp-owned Simon & Schuster Inc, have now settled.
Apple is the only remaining defendant in the Justice Department's lawsuit, which was filed in April 2012 in U.S. District Court in New York.

Kodak Plans to Emerge from Bankruptcy

Kodak files reorganization plan to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy:
According to the company, the plan and a disclosure statement, which includes a historical profile of the company, details how Kodak plans to maintain and extend its leadership image in the commercial printing industry.

http://www.piworld.com/article/eastman-kodak-company-posts-first-quarter-profit-283-million/1

Eastman Kodak has reported $283 million in consolidated net earnings in the first quarter of 2013, compared to a $366 million loss in the prior-year quarter. The profitable quarter reflects improved results of the Commercial Imaging segments and includes a $535 million gain recorded on the sale of Kodak’s digital imaging patent portfolio, partially offset by a $77 million non-cash goodwill impairment charge related to the patent sale

USPS: The Next Amtrak?

USPS: The Next Amtrak?:
Rate hike on the horizon?
USPS defaulted on its $6 billion pre-payment for employee pension benefits and is losing an estimated $25 million a day. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe has been dogged in slashing costs by closing processing facilities and post offices and proposing the end of Saturday mail delivery—a measure rejected this past March by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).
These and other operational measures, which the USPS estimates will total roughly $9 billion of annual savings, won't be enough. The Postal Service has used up its $15 billion statutory borrowing capacity, and little hope exists for a stalled Congress to renew its funding with new legislation. The USPS has pricing latitude, but it has for years stayed with scheduled rate increases in line with the Consumer Price Index. That may soon change. “Maybe mailers will be asked to pay a little more money,” Sharfman predicted...
One way or another, direct mailers will have to get used to the notion of a scaled down Postal Service. “It is going to shrink, it has to shrink,” Sharfman concluded. “As a model, what comes to mind is passenger rail service. It's preserved by Congress, important to some, but certainly not as important as it used to be.”