Gannett Co., Inc. is a diversified news and information company that publishes
newspapers, operates broadcasting stations, operates Web sites in connection with
its newspaper and broadcast operations, and is engaged in marketing, commercial
printing, a newswire service, data services and news programming. Gannett is an
international company operating primarily in the U.S. and the United Kingdom (U.K.).
Approximately 85% of its revenues are from domestic operations in 43 states, the
District of Columbia, and Guam. It has foreign operations in the United Kingdom
and in certain European and Asian markets.
The company has two principal business segments: newspaper publishing and broadcasting
(television).
Gannett is the USA's largest newspaper group in terms of circulation. The company's
100 U.S. daily newspapers have a combined daily paid circulation of 7.6'million.
They include USA TODAY, the nation's largest-selling daily newspaper, with a
circulation of approximately 2.2'million. In addition, Gannett owns USA WEEKEND,
a weekend newspaper magazine, and more than 500 non-daily publications in the
United States.
Newsquest plc, a wholly owned Gannett subsidiary acquired in mid-1999 and expanded
through further acquisitions since (including Scottish Media Group plc acquired
in 2003), is the second largest regional newspaper publisher in the U.K. with
a portfolio of more than 300 titles.
The newspaper segment also includes: Nursing Spectrum, publisher of biweekly
periodicals specializing in advertising for nursing employment; Army Times Publishing
Co., which publishes military and defense newspapers; Clipper Magazine, a direct
mail advertising magazine that publishes more than 325 individual editions in
24 states; a 19.49% interest in California Newspapers Partnership, a partnership
that includes 28 daily California newspapers; a 66.2% interest in Texas-New
Mexico Newspapers Partnership, a partnership that includes 6 daily newspapers
in Texas and New Mexico; and a 13.5% interest in Ponderay Newsprint Company
in California.
In addition to publishing, the newspaper segment includes the following: Gannett
News Service, which provides news services for its newspaper operations; Gannett
Retail Advertising Group, which represents the company's local newspapers in
the sale of advertising to national and regional retailers, service providers
and franchise businesses; and Gannett Offset, which is composed of the Gannett
Offset print group and Gannett Marketing Services Group. The Gannett Offset
print group currently includes five non-heatset printing plants and one heatset
printing facility. Gannett Offset's dedicated commercial printing plants are
located in Atlanta, Ga.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Miramar, Fla.; Norwood, Mass.;
St. Louis, Mo.; and Springfield, Va. Gannett Marketing Services Group coordinates
the sale of direct-marketing services through: Telematch, a database management
and data enhancement company; and Gannett Direct Marketing Services, a direct-marketing
company with operations in Louisville, Ky. The company also owns USATODAY.com
and other Internet services at most of its local newspapers and television stations;
and Gannett Media Technologies International, which develops and markets software
and other products for the publishing industry.
The principal sources of the company's broadcasting revenues are: 1) local
advertising focusing on the immediate geographic area of the stations; 2) national
advertising; 3) compensation paid by the networks for carrying commercial network
programs; 4) advertising on the stations' Web sites; and 5) payments by advertisers
to television stations for other services, such as the production of advertising
material. The advertising revenues derived from a station's local news programs
make up a significant part of its total revenues.
Competition: The company's newspapers compete with other media for advertising
principally on the basis of their advertising rates and their performance in
helping to sell the advertisers' products or services. They compete for circulation
principally on the basis of their content and price. While most of the company's
newspapers do not have daily newspaper competitors that are published in the
same city, in certain of the company's larger markets, there is such direct
competition. Most of the company's newspapers compete with other newspapers
published in nearby cities and towns and with free-distribution and paid-advertising
weeklies, as well as other print and non-print media.
The rate of development of opportunities in, and competition from, emerging
electronic communications services, including those related to the Internet,
is increasing. Through internal development programs, acquisitions and partnerships,
the company's efforts to explore new opportunities in news, information and
communications businesses have expanded and will continue to do so.
In each of its broadcasting markets, the company's stations compete for revenues
with other network-affiliated and independent television and radio broadcasters
and with other advertising media, such as cable television, newspapers, magazines
and outdoor advertising. The stations also compete in the emerging local electronic
media space, which includes Internet or Internet-enabled devices and any digital
spectrum opportunities associated with digital television (DTV). The company's
broadcasting stations compete principally on the basis of their market share,
advertising rates and audience composition.