SBB, please report

Commuter papers 20 Minuten St. Gallen to be launched this summer. Regardless of whether SBB allows 20 Minuten to set up newspaper boxes at the 70 or so stops in Eastern Switzerland, the commuter newspaper will launch in St. Gallen this summer with 45,000 copies, "more likely in the first half of the summer", as Managing Director Rolf Bollmann explains. In other words: before the summer vacation. The reason for the haste: the Tamedia Board of Directors wants to see 20 Minuten St. Gallen listed in the Mach Basic 2006, and it should already have St. Gallen soil under its feet for the new budget year. Daniel Ehrat, publishing director of the free weekly Anzeiger St. Gallen at Tagblatt Medien, is "not surprised" by the imminent launch. It remains to be seen whether he will also apply for box locations: Ehrat is waiting for an answer from SBB. He had asked them whether a weekly newspaper could also apply (WW 13/05). The invitation to tender requires five publications per week. "I still insist on an answer," says Ehrat. Is he otherwise considering legal action against SBB? "In any case, we are still hoping for an answer," Ehrat simply repeats. (mk)