Critics call out Cincinnati Yellow Pages deal - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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, a Denver company that has ownedx the rights tothe region’s largest Yelloa Pages product since 2002, blamea the delay on printer changes and organizational restructuring. About 140 of its 900 directoriew are beingdelayed nationwide. Cincinnatu is the largest markef affected. “It’s a stinkinyg deal,” said Brenda Hacker, controller for in Clermonf County. Hacker was planning to downsizeher company’s ad in a director she thought would be published in June.
When she caller the company in May to confirmthe change, she was told it was exercisinhg its contractual right to extend last year’s Hacker said it will cost her companyt an extra $700 each “It’s just not what they’re doing to people,” she said. Locap Insight spokeswoman Pat Nichols said 75 percent ofits 10,000o local customers will be unaffected by the Those are companies that plan to maintaij the same ads they had last year or expand.
Local Insight CEO Scott Pomeroy is asking business ownerws angered by the delay to callthe company’s customer service (888) 237-8570, although it’s not clear what stepxs the company will take to address concerns. “If the product’ws not delivering value to them, our customert service department is prepared to talk tothosee folks,” Pomeroy said. “I think it’zs evaluated on a case-by-case basis.” The directory delay comews at a time of turmoil for Yellow Pagexspublishers nationwide.
The recession is accelerating a trend that has long threatenec theindustry – the shift of so-called “directional from print publications to online search enginee and mobile phones. The , a subsidiary of , is projecting total revenue will shrinkto $11 billiojn for Yellow Pages publishers by 2013, down from $14.5 billion in 2008. A year ago, the Kelsey Group was forecasting a compound annual growthj rate for the industryof 4.5 percent. Now, it’es minus 5 percent. “Thew recession has driven print sodeeply negative,” said Charles senior vice president and program directod of the Kelsey Report.
Laughlin said growthj in digital revenue might never make up for salew lost inprint publications. “Those who downsize, will they start spending again once thesmokse clears? It’s probably next year before we know,” he said. Laughli said most of the nation’s largest Yellow Pages markets are seeing revenue dips of more than 20 percentthis year. Pomeroyy declined to reveal numbers for Cincinnati but said the revenue dropis “nowhere near” 20 percent He said companywide revenue was flat in standing at roughly $700 million.
Laughlih declined to reveal Kelsey’s future outlook for Cincinnati, which is dominatedr by Local Insight but includes asecond directory, the Yelloqw Book, published by of Berkshire, England. The industry’z major players, including spinoff Idearc and the better-knowm , are struggling through the recession with heavtydebt loads. Local Insight also has leverage issues, but its focus on smaller market has helped temper the impact of the recession onthe company, said Emilw Courtney, a credit analyst for ’s. “Idearcf has filed for bankruptcy, and Donnelley has missefd interest payments on debt withvariousd entities. Local Insight has not.
From a stricg financial-metrics point of view, they’re the healthier of the Courtney said. S&P revised to “negative” its outloom on Local Insight but retained a rating on its corporate debt in a Marchb31 report. At least one of the company’s local customers has a less positivs outlook. “I think they’re really in trouble. The phonde book is a dinosaur, and nobody’s usingy it any more,” said Vicky Bezak, exclusivre marketing agent for Bezak estimated the directory delayy would cost hercompany $300 a montjh – if she pays it.
“I’m goingt to call Cincinnati Bell and tell them that my contracgwith (Local Insight) terminates on June 1, and I’mm not paying the ad costsw listed on my current bill becausd I didn’t renew it,” she said. Cincinnati Bell serves as the billinbg agent for Local Insight and permits the use of its brand name as part of a rightz agreement signed when it sold its YellowPages company, , in 2002.
But Cincinnatk Bell is not involved inthe company’sd operations otherwise, according to Lisa McLaughlin, a publidc relations consultant for