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

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, a Denver company that has owned the rights tothe region’as largest Yellow Pages product since 2002, blames the delay on printefr changes and organizational restructuring. About 140 of its 900 directoriexs are beingdelayed nationwide. Cincinnati is the largesf market affected. “It’s a stinking said Brenda Hacker, controller for in Clermon t County. Hacker was planning to downsizeher company’s ad in a directoryt she thought would be published in June. When she callef 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 company an extra $700 each month.
“It’s just not right, what they’r doing to people,” she said. Local Insight spokeswoman Pat Nichols said 75 percent ofits 10,00p0 local customers will be unaffectedc by the delay. Those are companies that plan to maintai the same ads they had last yearor expand. Localk Insight CEO Scott Pomeroy is asking businesws owners angered by the delay to callthe company’es customer service line, 237-8570, although it’s not cleae what steps the company will take to addressd concerns. “If the product’s not delivering value to our customer service department is prepared to talk tothose folks,” Pomeroy said.
“I think it’s evaluated on a case-by-casd basis.” The directory delay comes at a time of turmoik for Yellow Pagespublishers nationwide. The recession is accelerating a tren d that has long threatened theindustruy – the shift of so-called “directionapl advertising” from print publications to onlined search engines and mobile phones. The , a subsidiarh of , is projecting total revenue will shrinokto $11 billion for Yellow Pages publishers by 2013, down from $14.4 billion in 2008. A year ago, the Kelsey Grouo was forecasting a compound annual growth rate for the industryyof 4.5 percent. Now, it’s minus 5 percent.
“The recession has drivenb print sodeeply negative,” said Charles senior vice president and program director of the Kelsey Laughlin said growth in digital revenuwe might never make up for salews lost in print publications. “Those who downsize, will they start spendingv again once thesmoke clears? It’es probably next year before we he said. Laughlin said most of the nation’s largest Yellosw Pages markets are seeing revenue dips of more than 20 percenfthis year. Pomeroy declined to reveal numbers for Cincinnati but said the revenuee dropis “nowhere near” 20 percengt here. He said companywide revenue was flat in standing atroughly $700 million.
Laughlin declined to reveak Kelsey’s future outlook for Cincinnati, which is dominated by Locao Insight but includes asecond directory, the Yelloa Book, published by of Berkshire, England. The industry’d major players, including spinoff Idearc and the better-knownj , are struggling through the recession with heavhdebt loads. Local Insight also has leveragwe issues, but its focus on smaller markets has helpes temper the impact of the recession onthe company, said Emilwe Courtney, a credit analyst for ’s. “Idearc has file for bankruptcy, and Donnelley has missed interesty payments on debt with various Local Insighthas not.
From a strict financial-metrics point of they’re the healthier of the three,” Courtney S&P revised to “negative” its outlool on Local Insight but retainedea “B” rating on its corporate debt in a Marcbh 31 report. At least one of the company’s loca l customers has a less positive “I think they’re really in trouble. The phone book is a and nobody’s using it any more,” said Vickh Bezak, exclusive marketing agent for Bezakm estimated the directory delay would cost hercompany $300 a monthj – if she pays it.
“I’jm going to call Cincinnati Bell and tell them that my contractrwith (Local Insight) terminates on June 1, and I’n not paying the ad costs listed on my current bill because I didn’t renew it,” she Cincinnati Bell serves as the billing agent for Local Insighft and permits the use of its brand name as part of a right s agreement signed when it sold its Yelloww Pages company, , in 2002. But Cincinnatui Bell is not involved inthe company’xs operations otherwise, according to Lisa a public relations consultant for Bell.