The lead content editor of the popular broadcast publication TV NewsCheck says the company needs to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to address a slowdown in advertising revenue before it can restart its news operations.
In a message posted to social media on Thursday, TV NewsCheck Editor Michael Depp said the outlet has been “inundated by phone calls, emails and text messages from broadcasters and readers in allied fields asking how they can help.”
The solution is simple: Depp says readers need to make a financial contribution to the platform in the form of an annual subscription to their premium product, TVN Plus.
“At the risk of sounding like a telethon, we need 1,500 broadcasters to subscribe, today, to TVN Plus,” Depp wrote. “For just $199 for an annual subscription, you will allow us to turn the lights back on as soon as next week.”
The message strongly suggests TV NewsCheck needs at least $300,000 before it can start publishing news once again. The website shut down earlier this week after editors said they would focus on their premium events business in order to address ongoing softness in the advertising and subscription market.
“It’s no secret that the media industry is facing the most challenging environment it has ever known, finding itself in need of adapting to fragmentation and the demands of a multiplatform media universe,” the website’s editors wrote in a note published on Tuesday. “Each day, we have endeavored to share with you the story of that transition, the incremental successes and the casualties among the organizations that comprise this industry.”
The website joins a growing list of publications that have suspended or significantly curbed back their editorial output due to advertising and subscription revenue issues.
Last summer, radio publication All Access said it would shut down after nearly three decades of publishing industry news online. Joel Denver, the publisher of All Access, cited unspecified financial issues for the reason. After an outpouring of support from readers, Denver abandoned plans to shut down All Access, announcing instead that the entire editorial staff would be let go and the daily “Net News” portion of the website would close.
In January, political news and current events website The Messenger announced it was shutting down after running out of cash.
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