Publigroupe terminates contract with Tamedia
Publigroupe terminated its framework agreement with Tamedia as of the end of 2007. CEO Hanspeter Rohner made the announcement on Wednesday at the Publigroupe Publishers« Conference in Thun. He said his company is currently in negotiations with the Zurich-based publishing house. »But if we can’t reach an agreement, we’ll manage just fine without Tamedia,” Rohner declared assertively.
Publigroupe has terminated the framework agreement with Tamedia at the end of 2007. This was announced by CEO Hanspeter Rohner on Wednesday at the Publigroupe publishers' conference in Thun. His company is in negotiations with the Zurich publishing house. "But if we can't come to an agreement, we'll be fine without Tamedia," Rohner declared aggressively. "If you join forces with A, you may not also be able to join forces with B." Rohner was probably alluding to the conflicts that have existed between his company and Tamedia since Publigroupe became more closely linked to NZZ. Rohner also wants to defend his interests in relation to the press landscape in general: "The times when Publigroupe was the Mother Teresa of Swiss newspapers are over".
Rohner's less conciliatory attitude is perhaps based on his confidence that the newspaper business will regain strength. He expects a media landscape with 60 percent newspaper readers in the future. In 2010, newspapers may once again have the largest share of the advertising pie because the advertising volume will be distributed differently due to new media. Rohner believes in the power of newspapers: "Print is the main course on the cross-media menu and will remain so," explained the Publigroupe CEO at the publishers' conference.
Andreas Panzeri and Carole Scheidegger
Rohner's less conciliatory attitude is perhaps based on his confidence that the newspaper business will regain strength. He expects a media landscape with 60 percent newspaper readers in the future. In 2010, newspapers may once again have the largest share of the advertising pie because the advertising volume will be distributed differently due to new media. Rohner believes in the power of newspapers: "Print is the main course on the cross-media menu and will remain so," explained the Publigroupe CEO at the publishers' conference.
Andreas Panzeri and Carole Scheidegger
