The New TV Guide

How can the TV Guide be larger and have less information? As much as I appreciate the sudden onslaught of Wentworth Miller photos, I have not used TV Guide since I was a kid because of cute guys. TV Guide provided extensive descriptions of tv shows. It was a convenient size that could fit easily on a coffee table, on top of a videotape or DVD. It was right by the cash register at the supermarket.

I knew that bad things were coming when the format changed several times last year. At one point, a couple of movie descriptions were written in Spanish even though they were not Spanish movies or aired on Spanish channels.

From Monday to Friday, TV Guide's editors seem to think that television shows only air from 8 PM to 11 PM because they do not list any shows before or after that time. At the time, I rationalized that during the week, the shows aired appear with some regularlity, but now TV Guide has decided to include Saturday and Sunday in this limited format.

TV Guide has made a huge mistake because sometimes the most interesting shows appear at those times on Saturday and Sunday. Occasionally, you can find an IMAX documentary or a rarely-viewed movie, but with TV Guide's new format, the reader can't discover these serendipitous treasures.

In addition, TV Guide has begun to show incompetence. It only lists one PBS channel whereas my region has two PBS channels. The magazine does not even state which PBS channel it is featuring, Channel 44 or 2.

TV Guide is trying to recast itself as an entertainment magazine, not a guide for TV shows. By doing so, the editors are throwing away years of branding and customer appreciation and competing in a market that it is ill equipt to compete in. With entertainment magazines widely ranging in quality from Vanity Fair to Entertainment Weekly, there is no untouched customer base.

I know that I am not the only customer who may cancel her subscription, but it is difficult to do so when I have faithfully purchased TV Guide, regardless of the price change. Still any magazine that ignores its loyal customers is commiting fiscal suicide and deserves to be abandoned by its customers.