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Home-Delivery Promotions Guidebook—Canadian Newspapers

Combination Sales

Combination sales include the sale of two or more different publications as a package to new or renewal subscribers.

A subscription combination sale is defined as the sale of a subscription to two or more different publications as a package during new, renewal or billing efforts, and where each publication in the sale is a priced product. A newspaper subscription may be sold in combination with another newspaper or a periodical.

Please note that a subscription to each publication in a combination package must be generally available for sale in the marketplace independent of each other.

See Rule C 25.3 Combination Sales.

Pricing

A publication may create a solicitation piece for combination sales as follows:

  • Promoting only the sale of the combination package.
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    • Sale of both publications for one package price.

  • Promoting the combination package as well as a subscription to one or both of the publications individually (optional). ­

    • The sale of one or both publications individually in the solicitation piece is optional.

If the solicitation material is promoting the sale of only the combination package, then the purchase price offered to the subscriber must be a minimum of the following:

  • Once cent for each newspaper in the sale, plus
  • One cent per periodical in the sale.

If the solicitation material is promoting the combination package as well as a subscription to one or both of the publications individually, then the purchase price offered to the subscriber for the combination must be a minimum of the following:

  • 100 percent of the selling price for the subscription with the highest individual subscription price involved in the sale.
  • One cent for each additional newspaper and one cent for each additional periodical subscription in the sale.

Promotional Material

All promotional material must:

  • State the publications involved in the combination package.
  • State the term for all publications in the package (and frequency for newspapers involved).
  • State the purchase price for the combination package.
  • State the purchase price for a subscription to one or both publications individually, if offered (optional).
  • Reflect a qualifying price.
  • Exclude any reference to any of the publications as being free, no additional cost, bonus, or other synonymous language.

Examples—Combination Sales

Reporting

Circulation generated from combination subscription sales is classified as Home Delivery on the ABC Publisher’s Statement.

Canadian Publisher's Statements delineate between circulation sold at 50 percent or more of basic prices and circulation sold at less than 50 percent of basic prices.

  • If the subscription value for the newspaper is 50 percent or more of basic prices, the circulation is included in Paragraph 1A.
  • If the subscription value for the newspaper is less than 50 percent of basic prices, the circulation is included in Paragraph 1B, with further disclosure in Paragraphs 1G and 7.

The subscription value for each publication in a combination sale is determined in one of two ways:

  1. The stated value of each publication in the offer, if it exists.
  2. A pro rata of each publication’s basic home-delivery prices, if no individual values are stated. (For periodicals, you would use the publisher’s annual suggested price.)

For example:
Publication A and Publication B (both are one-year subscriptions) are sold in combination for a price of $100.00.

Publication A basic price of:$ 50 = 25% of total x $100 combo price = $25
Publication B basic price of:$150 = 75% of total x $100 combo price = $75
Total$200

For reporting purposes, the value of Publication A is $25 and the value of Publication B is $75.

In Paragraph 2, the circulation is classified in the proper reporting zone based on where the copies are delivered to the subscriber.

Paragraph 8 will provide an explanation of the combination sale, including the name of the publications involved and the price(s) at which the combination package was sold.


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