Athletic, Axios talking merger?

Reminiscent of telling everyone they're different, and then gutting the freelance budget right around Mar. 13, 2020.

 

The nice or moral thing, some believe, is to notify subscribers about the upcoming renewal. Corporate doesn't give two shits about being nice or moral. They're only interested in making money. To them, subscribers should keep up with things.

I think there's an app that either searches for all your subscriptions and gives you the pre-renewal notification or a way to cancel. I can't remember what it is.

Edit -- the app is called TrueBill

 

Comcast ups my bill every year and I don't find out until I check my credit card bill.

My mom's newspaper subscriptions seem to go up every six months, and again, I don't know until I've checked the credit card bill.

That's the way the game is played. If you're getting a monthly vs. yearly sub, just cancel the next month. You're out the extra $8 or whatever, but most of us can handle that.

 

My renewal was coming up in a couple weeks at the increased $71.99/year price. Can't afford right now. Went to cancel. Got a prompt saying "are you sure you want to cancel?" Again said to cancel. Then they followed with "well what if we only charge you $21.59 for the year?" So I caved in.

 

The Donald Trump School of Negotiations.

It's not about subscription cash right now. They need subscribers to show viability and renewability.

 

A doubly interesting bit of shuffling going on in New York, where Rangers beat writer Rick Carpiniello is "retiring" and Islanders beat writer Arthur Staple is now the hockey columnist covering both the Rangers and Islanders. Interesting b/c Lou Lamoriello has done exactly what anyone who's ever heard of him over the last 35 years would think he'd do given half a chance (Isles are, I believe, the only NHL team going Zoom only for "health and safety protocols" even though writers must be vaxxed and masked just to get in the building), so it wouldn't be shocking if Arthur looked to this gig as a way to do something, anything that didn't require another season of staring at computer screens. And it's also interesting b/c asking one guy to do two jobs and giving his new dual job a fancy new title sure is a thing a super duper corporation looking to shave costs as it desperately tries to find a buyer would do.

 

FWIW, Carp’s piece on why he’s retiring seems genuine and doesn’t give the impression that he’s being asked to leave. Pretty sure if he was being given the boot he wouldn’t have written that.

Could be wrong, etc.

 

Do this with Sirius XM every year. There isn’t an act of terrorism they wouldn’t be willing to commit to keep your business. Not a bad business model

 

FanDuel, DraftKings are Among Bidders for The Athletic

Fantasy and sports betting providers, FanDuel and DraftKings, are among a number of companies that have submitted bids to buy sports news site The Athletic, according to people familiar with the situation.

The subscription-only sports news site recently tapped LionTree to explore a sale of all or part of its business after talks with The New York Times Co. and separately with Axios failed, as The Information previously reported. The Athletic, whose investors include Founders Fund, Courtside Ventures and Powerhouse Capital, is seeking a valuation of more than $750 million.

 

This would seem to be a super bad thing for the editorial side as well.