There's a brand new addition to your edition of the Times this morning.
It's the new TV Spotlight magazine — a 16-page magazine that outlines the schedule for the TV shows you'll get on the Comcast or satellite channels available across Cape Ann, and it offers a variety of other features, too.
In addition to the TV grids that list schedules for what's on the tube today though next Friday, you'll find feature stories spotlighting Donald Sutherland, Debra Messing and ABC's coverage of the British Open, which reaches its climax tomorrow. Plus, there are handy up-front listings for sports fans who just want to check which games and events are on which channels and when. And there are puzzles and games, including a Crossword, a Sudoku and their solutions — for those who want to check their work before the end of another week.
In short, the new magazine pulls together all the listings and other information you'll want to have handy as you keep watch and keep tabs on your favorite shows throughout the week.
The addition of TV Spotlight is not taking the place of our regular daily TV listings. You'll still get those on a regular basis as well. So in that vein, TV Spotlight truly is an expansion of our information services. And, let's face it, these are not times in which many businesses — especially newspapers — are expanding much of anything.
So, you may ask, why is your community's newspaper doing that?
Because we feel it really does give us the chance to offer our readers something we haven't been able to include in the past, because doing that gives us the chance to reach a new audience of readers and TV viewers. It gives our advertisers a new chance to reach out to an expanded audience of readers, too — readers who will hold onto the listings and thus the ad messages througout the a full week. P;us, it provides additional entertainment stories for readers to check out over the weekend.
Many newspapers, of course, have long included weekly TV magazines — and, to be honest, several have cut them back in these days when TV viewers can look online or even on their own screens to get immediate listings for all of their channels. But let's face it — these are days when many folks like to plan their TV viewing and preset their home entertainment equipment to record shows well in advance. And a weekly TV book gives you an easily accessible means of doing that.
Also, the Times' new TV Spotlight presentation isn't limited to the print edition you have in today's paper. It's also featured on our Web site at gloucestertimes.com, and is easily accessible from the TV Spotlight icon on the right side of our home page.
There, you'll not only find the listings and feature stories you get in the magazine; you'll also get a video feature that offers highlights and previews of some of your favorite shows, and a sense of what you'll be seeing in screens for the week ahead. You can literally turn the pages of the online magazine by clicking on the arrows at the top of the screen — and you can add your own feedback through a blog section available at the top of the TV Spotlight cover page as well.
In that sense, the Times' new TV Spotlight is designed to deliver you TV and entertainment news and information in a convenient, reader-friendly format we have not provided in the past — and to do it through both print and online presentations that provide you with features that — like our daily local news coverage — you really can't get in one place anywhere else.
I hope you enjoy it. Check it out inside today's paper — and as always, let me you know what you think.
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Questions? Comments? Do you have an issue you'd like to see addressed in a future column? Contact Times Editor Ray Lamont at rlamont@gloucestertimes.com.
