PMN To Lure Online Subscribers With Free Tablets

BY ALEXANDER POTTER Philadelphia Media Network (PMN) President and CEO Gregory Osberg today announced the launching of Project Liberty, a series of initiatives to boost digital readership, including a new subscription drive that will provide free Android tablets to subscribers of digital editions of the Inquirer and the Daily News, as well as philly.com. It is the first initiative of its kind undertaken by a major newspaper in the United States, said Osberg during a press conference this afternoon at the Academy of Natural Sciences. When Phawker asked how many online subscriptions PMN would need to compensate for the plunging print circulations of both papers, Osberg declined to provide hard numbers. Osberg also announced that PMN and Benjamin Franklin Technology Partners (BFTP), with a grant from the John S. and James L Knight Foundation, have also created a technology incubator in partnership with Drexel University, DreamIt Ventures and the Philadelphia Foundation, to bring new digital products and ideas to market. “Project Liberty is about demonstrating our commitment to make PMN the national leader in digital media innovation,” said Osberg. “Hosting this technology incubator will enable PMN to identify and develop some of the newest, most creative technology applications, social media and e-commerce ventures. At the same time, recognizing that digital subscriptions are the future of our business, we are targeting those readers by offering tablet devices that will encourage them to subscribe to our digital editions.” In attendance was Mayor Michael Nutter, who said, “I can’t think of a better place to do something like this, the first of its kind, other than in Philadelphia.” Lastly, Osberg announced the July 25^th launch of the “new” Philadelphia Daily News. New editor-in-chief Larry Platt plans to expand the gossip, food and dining and sports sections of the tabloid, he said.