British News Looks To US Market
By Neil Dodds
02 June, 2006
Three respected British news providers are hoping to increase their share of the US market. Tax-funded broadcaster the BBC, influential weekly The Economist and daily newspaper The Times are launching or expanding services to Americans.
The Economist - perhaps the world's most influential news weekly - has already made an impact in the States. Around half its 1 million readers are American, but the newspaper, which publishes several editions in regions like Asia and Europe as well as its "home" British edition, is hoping to build on its success. The Herald Tribune reports that the Economist is using Baltimore as a base to increase newsstand space and lift subscription rates.
Also appearing on US newsstands will be The Times. Of course, US readers already have their own "Times" but the Brits hope that the original will soon be judged the best when 10,000 copies start hitting the shelves on a daily basis in Washington DC and New York City. The Times used to be Britain's newspaper of record, the in-house organ of the nation's establishment. It has lost ground, however, since its glory days: The Daily Telegraph, which sells more copies, has taken over as the traditionalist's preferred journal, while the left-leaning Guardian could more correctly be identified as the urban elite's in-house journal, particularly after nine years of Labour party rule. The Times, pitching to the centre, sometimes seems to lack a distinct identity when compared to its rivals.
The newspaper won't be wholly unfamiliar to US readers. It is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News International, so has family ties with Fox News Channel. That said, 10,000 copies, even as a modest launch, isn't going to make the Times a household name. It's more likely that the US launch is a play for internet readers. The Guardian has become hugely familiar to US readers thanks to its website. While the newspaper itself sells fewer than half a million copies a day, the Guardian's website is the most popular newspaper website in the UK. Right-wingers hate it for its anti-Bush, anti-war stance; US lefties love it for the same reason - no US paper, as they see it, takes such a brave stance. Even if the newspaper's politics do not appeal to you, the lively debate and idiosyncratic style of its comment and review pages come as a relief, particularly after the staid traditions of US newspapers.
The Guardian has cultivated an increasingly international style - and now the Times wants some of that market, not least because advertising spends online are heading skywards. The Guardian claims its website now "pays for itself" - that has to be appealling to the Times' publisher.
The third big organisation planning a US launch needs no introduction. The BBC is already famous in the US for its entertainment channel, which reaches nearly 50 million subscribers. However, the US is the only market which doesn't receive BBC World, its 24-hour news channel. (The Beeb has a sharing deal with ABC News).
This is set to change this month, as BBC World launches with a twin-pronged campaign in the states. The broadcaster, which is reported to be forking out $1 million on the promotion, needs to persuade viewers to tune in to its service; it must also encourage satellite companies to include BBC World News in their "bundled" offerings to subscribers.
Once again, the British company is staking out a territory by offering an alternative perspective to US news. The Beeb promises to deliver "both sides of the story" and claims to broadcast "thought-provoking" news that doesn't "tell (viewers) what to think."
While it will be up against tough competition from CNN and Fox News, the BBC believes viewers will choose it as a reaction to what commentators describe as the ""the Wal- Martization of America" and its news channels.
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