The editors of broadcast industry news outlet TV NewsCheck said they are ready to start posting articles and deploying newsletters once again, about three weeks after the website suspended publication amid a shortage of funds.
On Monday, TV NewsCheck editor Michael Depp said the website was returning “fully stocked” with news and information about the broadcast industry, which would be distributed through twice-daily newsletters.
Depp said the website received an “outpouring of support” from readers after editors announced they would stop publication last month in order to focus on their events business. The decision to suspend the posting of new articles came amid a slowdown in advertising revenue, which has afflicted some of its peer publications over the past two years.
TV NewsCheck never completely stopped posting articles as claimed, with editors later affirming they were publishing a limited amount of industry news behind a paywall as part of a fundraising effort to get more readers to sign up for a premium version of the website.
Later, the website said it needed around $300,000 in subscriptions to its TVN Plus product in order to be fully solvent. A subscription costs $200 per year, and the company recently debuted a new tool that allows broadcast companies to purchase bulk subscriptions for their employees.
It wasn’t clear if TV NewsCheck met that goal, though Depp wrote that the website needed to see the number of subscriptions grow over time in order for the website to be on good financial ground.
“The television industry faces tectonic change that will continue to reshape its landscape. We are committed to tracking all the ways in which that is happening, moment by moment and step by step,” Depp wrote. “The best way to ensure we can keep doing that is to become a subscriber and directly support our reporting efforts.”
Depp said the website will integrate new data into its TVN Plus membership program over the next few months, including “expanded, behind-the-scenes coverage of finance, mergers and acquisitions; regulation, audience measurement and revenue, streaming and programming strategies.”
“We are grateful to you, our readers, for enabling this chance to resume,” Depp wrote. “Please keep your support coming so that we can make this return a permanent one.”
