BUSINESS PUBLICATIONS

Unanimous Consent – Effective March 12, 2007
ABC’s board of directors voted to modify Rule D 8.2 Premium Defined to allow free or discounted access to the publication’s Web site and to also allow subscribers exclusive access to functions or activities created by the publisher but are not available to the general public.

Also approved were business rules governing ABC’s Consolidated Media Reports to make provisions for the reporting of registered users of a business publication’s Web site and electronic newsletters. In addition, the board also approved the use of the term “Total Gross Contacts” to be used in place of “Total Contacts” when describing the aggregate figure used in Consolidated Media Reports.

Unanimous Consent – Effective with June 2007 Publisher’s Statements
The board also approved a new Publisher’s Statement format that allows publishers to report an aggregated figure for qualified circulation, pass-along recipients, and Web site activity in a highlighted box on the front page of ABC Publisher’s Statements and Audit Reports.

FARM PUBLICATIONS

Unanimous Consent – Effective March 12, 2007
The ABC board voted to modify Rule E 8.2 Premium Defined to allow free or discounted access to the publication’s Web site and permit farm publishers to offer subscribers access to unique publisher initiated events or activities that are not available to non-subscribers.

CONSUMER MAGAZINES

For Information
The ABC board agreed to defer any changes to Rule F 8.4 Subscriptions/Single Copy Sales in Combination until its July 2007 meeting. At its November 2006 meeting, the board had given first passage to: Allow magazine single-copy combination sales, provided that the minimum price to be collected for the combination sale is at least that of the highest priced publication plus a qualifying price for additional magazines (at least one cent); All magazines included in the combination sale must be generally available separately in the newsstand marketplace; ABC reports must identify the combination publications, the issue sold, quantity sold and price of the combination sale. The board will revisit the rule at its July 2007 meeting.

The board endorsed the concept of developing an optional, enhanced Publisher’s Statement to allow publishers to provide an aggregation of top-line circulation and Web activity, and report additional details about their publication’s Web site activity.

NEWSPAPERS

Final Passage- Effective March 12, 2007
The ABC board modified Rule C 5.11 Single-Issue Sales of Back Copies to allow the sales of each day’s newspaper until the on-sale date of the subsequent corresponding day (e.g., Monday – Monday).

First Passage
The board granted preliminary approval for ABC to work with the Newspaper Association of America and Scarborough to incorporate audience data in ABC U.S. media reports, beginning with September 2007 statement period.

The board also revised Rule C 5.1 Premium Defined to exempt subscriber rewards or loyalty programs as a subscription premium.

The board voted to modify Rule C 5.1 Premium Defined to specify the following are not premiums: free or discounted access to online content or an electronic edition from the same editorial home as the publication included as part of the subscription to the publication.

For Information
ABC’s board voted to defer revisions to Rule C 5.13 Subscription Offer Based on Acceptance Unless Declined to its July 2007 meeting. The board had given first passage to the rule modification in July 2006 to allow a publication to convert subscribers for any period of time without prior consent from the consumer, as long as they can easily cancel the upgrade and revert back to their original subscription.

FOR ALL PUBLICATIONS

Unanimous Consent- Effective March 12, 2007
ABC’s board of directors amended Bylaw 10.2 Procedure to require that exception requests from members to the ABC board of directors be signed by the publisher or other senior executive outside of the circulation department (e.g. CEO, CFO, COO).

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

ABC elected to the board Steven Rossi, executive vice president and chief operating officer for MediaNews Group Inc., as a newspaper director.

Reports and Data Access

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