7 Ways To Get More Love From Your TV Listings Book

Looking for love in all the wrong places? We think there's
some for you right there in your TV Listings Book.

TV Listings.  Not exactly at the top of your priority list.  You’ve got to worry about features, breaking news, circulation, you name it.  Better TV LISTINGS?  The best they can do is not cause a problem, right?

Not true.  There are some ways to make the pain go away—and turn that ugly stepchild into dazzling royalty.

1.  Sell advertising revenue.  Hey, THERE’S an idea, right?  Believe it or not, some folks don’t see the space on a listings page as a blank slate for a potential advertiser.  All ripe and ready to be sold to the appropriate advertiser and placed in the corresponding programming and day part.  Let’s face it—you’re already printing the listings, so why not make a few dollars with ads?

2.  Add a price & a UPC Code to the cover for newsstand sales.  Get your listings to generate single-sale newsstand revenue by simply adding a price and a UPC code to the cover.  Then, those TV-watchers who don’t even read the paper can pick up a copy.  Plus, you can price the newsstand version at double what the subscribers are paying.  Giving the impression of value for current subscribers and potentially enticing new subscriptions.

3.  Make sure to have cable conversion charts.  Nothing’s worse that finding a show you like and then aimlessly wandering adrift through all 150 channels to find it on screen because the listing didn’t include channel conversions for all providers.  With cable conversion charts to connect channel numbers with programming, viewers will find your listings book useful and helpful—as well as “the authority” for other viewing information.

4.  Include sports and movie breakouts.  The background information on a movie or sports program can get people excited about watching.  A little extra back story on the production of a film, or even the rivalry between two teams, can turn an average movie into an adventure.  A ho-hum game becomes the perfect setting for a player’s pursuit of an important strikeout record.  Adding that breakout content brings value to your listings—and your paper.

5.  Use compelling cover content and color graphics.  Just like your front page, your TV listings book will benefit from cover content that’s riveting—along with the color that’ll make it jump off the page.  That’s how your TV listings book gets attention, then gets relied upon.

6.  Maximize relevant programs and images.  You know your audience.  You know your local culture and customs.  Leverage them whenever you can.  Make sure your cover and feature content takes full advantage of your area’s likes, festivals, traditions, and happenings.  Just like with the rest of your paper.  If a local boy or girl has made good in Hollywood—be sure their picture is on the cover!!!!

7.  Get your listings data and images from a source that’s accurate, complete, and timely.  That, admittedly, would be FYI.  You’ll never have to worry about an old 1971 description showing up for the NEW Hawaii 5-O.  Or a picture of Walter Cronkite hosting the CBS Evening News.  So, the confusion and complaints?  We make those headaches go away.

But we’ve just scratched the surface.  Every situation is distinct.  Every opportunity is unique.  To find out how to get the most out of your TV listings book—and how to make all the headaches go away—contact the TV listings book expert—John Dodds, VP of Newspaper Sales at FYI.  Just think of him as a gigantic bottle of pain reliever.  We always do.

FYI Boosts Subscribers & Revenue With Charleston Post And Courier

GRAND PRAIRIE, TEXAS (April 25, 2103)--FYI Television, Inc. (FYI), the nation’s premier provider of entertainment metadata and image content, has been instrumental in helping create a substantial subscriber and revenue-building re-launch of The Charleston Post and Courier’s subscription-based TV Week book. 

“The Charleston Post and Courier has seen an 19.5% increase in subscribers, and we expect nearly $50,000 in additional annual circulation revenue in just the first three weeks since the transition,” according to Steve Wagenlander, The Charleston Post and Courier’s Director of Audience Development.

FYI was part of the transition team assembled by Wagenlander that included the newspaper’s circulation, advertising, editorial, production, and marketing staff.

“This project was a true collaboration.  And, it followed a path that was really the perfect utilization of our new product development process—consultation, development, new product launch, and customer service support,” said John T. Dodds, Vice President of Newspaper Sales for FYI Television.

“We were able to bring our high level of product and launch expertise to the table to inform The Post and Courier’s process.  Every time we can add additional resources to complement our client’s endeavors—reducing the impact on their staff’s time and costs—it’s a win-win for all involved,” added Dodds.

Along the way, FYI participated in on-site meetings, conference calls, prototyping of the improved guide, reader survey development support, and marketing materials development support, all in addition to the “core” new product development support.

As a result of the team’s effort, The Post and Courier’s guide grew from 24 to 40 pages, and from 65 to 110 channels—plus added features and a fresh new design—so the the opt-in cost of the guide was able to double as well.

“FYI Television was a crucial part of our transition team—and the success of our new TV Week+ product.  Their support during the transition kept us informed, their product development skills are unmatched, and the results speak for themselves,” said Wagenlander.  

About FYI Television:

FYI Television, Inc. (FYI), the TV metadata and entertainment image content expert, accumulates and distributes TV entertainment content and linear scheduling data from over 12,000+ TV networks daily, aggregating the information into customized formats for various television, mobile, internet and print clients. Through the vast array of applications our data is filtered into, hundreds of millions of consumers engage with FYI’s content daily. 

FYI is at the top of its game, maintaining the highest standards of accuracy, flexibility, scalability and consistency for all clients, and furthermore, setting the overall pace in the fast-evolving world of entertainment programming. 

Clients in both domestic and international markets including AT&T, Verizon, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Disney, SONY, Discovery, Gannett Newspapers, Scripps, Triveni Digital, Star Media, Ygnition, Titan TV, bim, frontier, Cannella, comScore, NBC Universal, Rentrak, Media General, Ole, National Geographic, Motorola Mobility turn to FYI for its top-notch tailored TV metadata, data management, image content, media measurement and analytics. 

Learn more about our products and services at www.fyitelevision.com.

Or, you can request specific information by clicking this Get Info link.

Media Contact:
Lauren Gustafson, Marketing Manager
817-459-1600
lgustafson@fyitelevision.com

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The History Of TV Listings

Feel free to walk around or question our many experts.

The Dark Ages: Make An Appointment With Your TV

Remember back, those of you old enough to do so.  For those still wet behind the ears, just wrap your brain around this…

Imagine a time when you actually had to make an appointment with your television in order to see your favorite show.  That’s right.  Way back when, your favorite content was not just sitting there in a convenient digital box waiting for you to choose it.

Back in these primitive times, you went to your local TV listing, saw when the show was available, then you waited patiently for it.  And, you were careful not to be late because the show ran on time, and a re-run (if indeed one was available) was months away.

Crucial to this date with destiny was—as it is today—your television listing.  And so it happens that back in 1965, in a place called Glen Falls, New York, that a man became the father of television listings with the simple notion that viewers everywhere would want this vital information to inform their viewing.

His name was James E. West and, as luck would have it, he was right.  And he called the new company providing this information TV Data Technologies.

The simple idea of providing television listings swiftly took hold.  As television grew, the television listings business grew with it.

And that’s how the television listings business remained for some time.  Pretty much a print-only world with just four stations and maybe an independent or two to worry about per market.

But then along came cable.

A Ray Of Light: Cable TV & Onscreen Listings

Before cable TV, an entire market’s prime time lineup—and a goodly portion of the day and night before and after—could easily be accommodated in a page of any newspaper.  Title, time, even a program description.

But when cable spewed all those programming options out through that wire, it created a decision for those daily newspapers and weekly guides.  What to include?  What NOT to include?

So now, in the viewer’s mind, the choice was not as simple as one out of four.  There were far more choices.  Far more options.  And far, far more than could be reasonable placed on a single sheet of newspaper.  Cramming them into weekly guides was no small feat, either.

But never fear.  As always happens in the world of television listing data services, an improvement would rush to the aid of those wanting to find their program.

Who could be expected to learn and digest the volumes of programming contained on all the cable channels?  Who could solve the labyrinth of choices at their disposal?

And, thanks to one of James E. West’s associates named Ted Zoli, who would ever have to again?

Mr. Zoli formed an offshoot company—now known as Tribune Media Services—and converted the entire operation to computers.  Which opened the door for the next big jump.  Onscreen listings of programs. 

So viewers could pick what they want while staring at their screens, not a newspaper. 

A New Day Begins: VCR to DVR to What You Want When You Want It

So, while the television listing business had changed, and the way viewers found out about their programming had changed—the appointment setup was pretty much the same.  When’s the show on?  That was the crucible of watching a program.

All the while, weaving through the maze of channels and programs to find that needle in a haystack.

Unless you want to watch Law & Order.  It’s on 24/7 somewhere.

Once again, however, technology jumped in and changed things.  VCRs, once a household item, allowed viewers to program their machine to record the programs they wanted to watch.  On their time. 

That, along with the development of a sophisticated sibling known as the DVR, removed the chains of appointment viewing from people everywhere.  Plus, programming had changed and certain programs were available more frequently than just once a week.

Throw in “on-demand” viewing and pay-per-view viewing?  Now appointment viewing has become Watch What You Want When You Want It viewing. 

Now, you see, the digital age had reached your television, your “clicker”, and your television listing itself.  All through the magic of the digital age,

A Bright Future: FYI Television

Back around 2000—some say 1999, others say 2001—a company came along and took a look at what was happening in television listings.  The company was FYI Television.  (That’s us.)

There, before them, were two industry Goliaths.  What could a humble company from Texas possibly have that could compete with the companies founded by Mssrs. West and Zoli?

The very fact that they were new.  Small.  Certainly, in the face of the entrenched industry leaders, that might seem daunting.  But given the rate of change in television listings, and the exploding dynamics of available technology, small could mean other things, too.

Agile.  Adaptable.  Responsive.  Certainly the new company was capable of unerringly providing complete and accurate television listings.  That was just the price of admission in the category.  Perfection every single time. 

But this new company, FYI Television, was not staid.  Not set in its ways.  Not invested in decades of systems and process that created a “one size fits all” offering to its customers.

No, this new company was not only willing to change with technology—along with the demands of its customers—it was able to.  Uniquely positioned to be the best of both worlds. 

A company supremely qualified to provide print and onscreen solutions of any kind, while still shaking hands with the future and embracing all that it can and will provide.

Because in these rapidly changing times the company best positioned to succeed is the one that can roll with the changes.  Just as fast as they happen.

And that company is FYI Television. 

New FYI Signage Now Atop Headquarters

GRAND PRAIRIE, TEXAS (April 10, 2013)--FYI Television, Inc. (FYI), the nation’s premier provider of entertainment metadata and image content, has made its way into the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex skyline with the placement of the FYI logo atop the company’s headquarters. 

“The unprecedented growth we’ve experienced in the past few years called for more recognition in our own back yard, so we jumped on the opportunity for signage rights to our headquarters,” said Christopher S. Stark, President and CEO of FYI Television.  “Naturally, the prominence it gives us will only further promote the FYI Television brand and everything that goes along with it.”

Accent Graphics was responsible for creating and installing the signage, which now adorns the top of the building where National Health’s logo formerly resided.

“We were able to implement new technology that radically reduced the energy consumption of this signage over that of the previous sign.  In fact, it’s ten times more efficient from an energy standpoint,” remarked Jack Muldoon, President and Owner of Accent Graphics.

The new signage, measuring over 12 feet high by nearly 65 feet long and making use of over 1100 light-emitting diodes (LEDs), can easily be seen by DFW metroplex drivers and residents from miles away—as an estimated 171,000 vehicles pass the location every day.  

About FYI Television:

FYI Television, Inc. (FYI), the TV metadata and entertainment image content expert, accumulates and distributes TV entertainment content and linear scheduling data from over 12,000+ TV networks daily, aggregating the information into customized formats for various television, mobile, internet and print clients. Through the vast array of applications our data is filtered into, hundreds of millions of consumers engage with FYI’s content daily. 

FYI is at the top of its game, maintaining the highest standards of accuracy, flexibility, scalability and consistency for all clients, and furthermore, setting the overall pace in the fast-evolving world of entertainment programming. 

Clients in both domestic and international markets including AT&T, Verizon, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Disney, SONY, Discovery, Gannett Newspapers, Scripps, Triveni Digital, Star Media, Ygnition, Titan TV, bim, frontier, Cannella, comScore, NBC Universal, Rentrak, Media General, Ole, National Geographic, Motorola Mobility turn to FYI for its top-notch tailored TV metadata, data management, image content, media measurement and analytics. 

Learn more about our products and services at www.fyitelevision.com.


Or, you can request specific information by clicking this Get Info link.

Media Contact:
Lauren Gustafson, Marketing Manager
817-459-1600
lgustafson@fyitelevision.com