Rules & Resources
Newspaper Support Center

Home-Delivery Promotions Guidebook—U.S. Newspapers

Discounts

A newspaper may choose to sell subscriptions at a price discounted from basic prices to encourage consumers to buy the newspaper.

Pricing

Subscriptions of the newspaper may be sold at a discount of up to 75 percent off the home-delivery basic prices, net of all considerations. See the definition of paid circulation.

Promotional Material

All promotional material must:

  • State the term and frequency of the subscription.
  • State the purchase price.
  • Reflect a qualifying price.

Example—Discounts

Reporting

Circulation generated from home-delivery discounted sales is reflected in Paragraphs 1A, 2, 4 and 5B of the ABC Publisher’s Statement.

In Paragraph 1A, the circulation is classified as Home Delivery under Paid for by Individual Recipients. For individually paid circulation, ABC requires a newspaper to delineate between circulation sold at 50 percent or more of basic prices and circulation sold at less than 50 percent, but at least 25 percent of basic prices. Therefore, the subscription copies should be included in the appropriate price category based on the price the consumer actually paid for the subscription.

In Paragraph 2, the circulation is classified as Home Delivery, based on the specific ABC zone where the copies are delivered to the subscriber.

Paragraph 4 discloses the number of new and renewal subscriptions sold at reduced prices during the period covered by the statement. This disclosure includes the frequency and term of the subscriptions.

Paragraph 5B lists the reduced prices at which the subscriptions were sold. This listing includes the frequency, term and price at which the subscriptions were purchased.


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