Clarity Media to cut home delivery days for Examiner

DENVER - A tabloid daily delivered for free in Baltimore, Washington and San Francisco by Denver-based Clarity Media Group will now arrive on customers' doorsteps only on Thursdays and Sundays.

Clarity Media says it is increasing the number of Examiner newspapers available at newspaper racks and vendors in those markets while ending six-day-a-week home delivery. It also is moving its weekend Saturday edition to Sunday.

Clarity Media, a private company owned by billionaire investor Philip Anschutz, says it is beefing up its Web site in the three newspaper markets and turning examiner.com into an aggregator of news.

Company CEO Ryan McKibben said the moves are in response to advertiser and reader wishes while allowing the company to "protect the core of what we do and that is gathering news and information."

Newspaper circulation has been declining in recent years as more readers turn to digital media, including the Internet, forcing many newspaper companies to cut its staff.

"It's no secret that this is a very difficult period for our industry. But it's actually an exciting time when one has the necessary talent and is sufficiently nimble and innovative to effectively meet the demands of rapidly changing markets," McKibben said in a statement.

The first Sunday edition will be published on July 13.

Anschutz launched the Examiner newspapers with the purchase of the San Francisco Examiner, once a cornerstone in the publishing empire of William Randolph Hearst, in 2004.

Delivery to homes with household incomes of about $75,000 a year began in Washington in 2005, while the Baltimore edition began in 2006. Home delivery will continue to be targeted based on income.

Newspaper Association of America circulation and marketing vice president John Murray said that from a business standpoint, Thursdays and Sundays are attractive days for so-called insert advertisers.

"A free home delivery model is more expensive to maintain throughout the week than a free pickup newsstand model," Murray said.

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