Wake up Australia, your magazine has been hi-jacked !

[Rachel Richards]

So, the best motorsport publication in Australia, EVER, sells out to Chevron, and not one of you even thinks about starting a thread.

Too busy posting the 2011 HRT livery you just created (on your cracked copy of PhotoChop 13), in the fantasy championship ?

Geez people, open your eyes

[kowalski the lone driver]

i was thinking the exact same thing.

[peckstar]

is there an issue rachel?

[Rachel Richards]

Originally Posted by peckstar

is there an issue rachel?

Yeah, peckie, Monday's was #141

[peckstar]

lol, not quite what i meant, but still funny

is there a problem with chevron taking over, i have no opinion on it , which is why iam asking?

[Rachel Richards]

Originally Posted by peckstar

lol, not quite what i meant, but still funny

is there a problem with chevron taking over, i have no opinion on it , which is why iam asking?

I have been a huge fan of MN, as I love the battler taking on "the man" & winning.

If the Mag ends up a sell-out, I for one will be pretty annoyed, as it is top rate, and innovative.

BTW, I'm not for a minute suggesting it will, as Chevron have been pretty faithful to Australian Motorsport, over the journey; even before TC & his three ring circus arrived in town ! (sorry, Peck, couldn't resist the chance )

If you look at the poll, (pardon the typo), I am happy to gauge people's opinion, even the numb-skulls who still buy Auto Fiction !

I just hope it maintains, or betters it's current standard, or I (and I reckon a lot of others) won't renew my subscription.



P.S. despite my track record for sarcasm, is there even a remote chance we can maintain this thread in the spirit it is intended ?

[peckstar]

firstly my motorsport background goes back along way before tc and his circus

ok, your first post seemed pretty negative about it and i thought maybe there was some big problem with chevron taking over

me, as i said i have no opinion and i am taking them at there word they it is a good thing, but as you mentioned i will also be watching and will decide is my subscription is worth it, i have to November though

[Holly Wood]

I can only see it improving with Chevron. The monthly magazine is a joke at the moment, I couldn't believe how light the latest issue is. Huge pages of colour with no text on them, a strange email thingo with Loeb, and that driver rating that takes up 14 pages and tells us absolutely nothing...

You don't see rubbish like that from Chevron.

[Camaroz]

Originally Posted by Holly Wood

I can only see it improving with Chevron. The monthly magazine is a joke at the moment, I couldn't believe how light the latest issue is. Huge pages of colour with no text on them, a strange email thingo with Loeb, and that driver rating that takes up 14 pages and tells us absolutely nothing...

You don't see rubbish like that from Chevron.

Yet

[mountainstar]

Chevron I think does an outstanding job and always has for that matter. I think I have been subscribing since 1998 to MRA and then AMC as well. And I think they have done a great job with a lot of DVD's they have put out. A lot of that footage would remain unseen if not for them and it's nice for me to be able to see that footage that was before my time.

So if they are taking over Motorsport News, then I'm pretty happy about that.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Chris Lambden, Publisher, Australasian Motorsport News

Message to all Motorsport News subscribers, from the Publisher

Tue 9/02/2010 11:39 AM

Today is a landmark one for Motorsport News – it sees us join forces with Sydney-based motorsport publishing icon Chevron Publishing.

Motorsport News (and Motorsport eNews) will now be published by Chevron – which is itself part of nextmedia, a fast-growing and innovative publishing group, which publishes over 30 specialised magazines.

Motorsport News will, however, remain Melbourne-based, retaining its current address and email/phone contact details.

The change is, in effect, the merging of two major motorsport publishers into one force – and among the prime beneficiaries of the move will be you, the Motorsport News subscriber.

Will the change materially affect you or your Motorsport News subscription? No. Your Motorsport News subscription remains unchanged – you will in fact receive what will be a bigger, brighter and better Motorsport News magazine, starting with the next issue, due at the end of this month.

The same applies to those of you who are Motorsport eNews subscribers. You will continue to receive our leading edge digital mag every week, as before.

The editorial team remains the same – with the added support of Chevron’s experienced team.

In publishing terms it’s like an HRT/Triple Eight merger, or maybe McLaren and Williams! The result will be an all-round winner for motorsport magazine readers.

My personal thanks for your patronage, as a subscriber, and I hope you enjoy the bigger and better Motorsport News that is coming your way.



Chris Lambden
Publisher

Any queries: mnews@mnews.com.au

Chevron is part of nextmedia, which publishes a whole raft of titles

http://www.nextmedia.com.au/

[NewsStalker]

No complaints one way or the other BUT

MSN statrted to dig it's own grave when they went digital - not so much the fact they went digital, but the way they did it.

Sure - good format - for free (any one seen actualy print publication figures from around this time as to how the sales dipped?)

And then the sudden changeover from 'Sorry - the free version is no longer available - but get your subscription copies here - stand in line with your credit card please' whilst at the same time rfetaining email addresses and then (quite illegally) using them to start self-promoting (which, btw, soon got stopped by ACMA and others).

So - hopefully, things can only improve - Chevron have a good track record IF they intend to keep both versions going.

Obviously - the sale has been made for a reason - the question is - which edition has been the reason for the sale and which one (paper or digital) is going to get ddropped within the next 6-12 months?

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by NewsStalker

No complaints one way or the other BUT

MSN statrted to dig it's own grave when they went digital - not so much the fact they went digital, but the way they did it.

Sure - good format - for free (any one seen actualy print publication figures from around this time as to how the sales dipped?)

And then the sudden changeover from 'Sorry - the free version is no longer available - but get your subscription copies here - stand in line with your credit card please' whilst at the same time rfetaining email addresses and then (quite illegally) using them to start self-promoting (which, btw, soon got stopped by ACMA and others).

So - hopefully, things can only improve - Chevron have a good track record IF they intend to keep both versions going.

Obviously - the sale has been made for a reason - the question is - which edition has been the reason for the sale and which one (paper or digital) is going to get ddropped within the next 6-12 months?

Who knows, sometimes sales of businesses are made for good reasons and probably Chevron has the resources to devote to it to take it further.

If there was a mistake made, I think they should have kept the paper and digital editions the same, thereby cutting out the duplication and made them both available to subscription.

Ultimately, I never minded their product. News is news and no need to pole vault over a mouse turd about how it is presented.

[pplater]

I'm a bit wary of what's happening.

The amalgamation of magazines and prominence of an online news service started by a PR company point to a brave new world in motorsport media.

It's a tricky time for media everywhere, but I for one don't see this as a positive.

[Just Do It!]

Originally Posted by NewsStalker

No complaints one way or the other BUT

MSN statrted to dig it's own grave when they went digital - not so much the fact they went digital, but the way they did it.

Sure - good format - for free (any one seen actualy print publication figures from around this time as to how the sales dipped?)

And then the sudden changeover from 'Sorry - the free version is no longer available - but get your subscription copies here - stand in line with your credit card please' whilst at the same time rfetaining email addresses and then (quite illegally) using them to start self-promoting (which, btw, soon got stopped by ACMA and others).

So - hopefully, things can only improve - Chevron have a good track record IF they intend to keep both versions going.

Obviously - the sale has been made for a reason - the question is - which edition has been the reason for the sale and which one (paper or digital) is going to get ddropped within the next 6-12 months?

Interesting topic.

Well done to Mr Lambden for picking up a pay day....let's hope for readers that it doesn't become a mayday.

I, too, took on ENews when it was free, and became an addict - a cunning plan by them. And when you had to buy, I resisted for only 2 weeks.

I looked at it and did the maths, thinking it was a fair deal, I hooked a 2 year subscription to ENews and the MNews mag.

So far, apart from the many, many typos found in the print edition, I reckon it's a pretty good deal.

I think my subscription falls due later this year, so the jury is currently out.

Print has been light of late. The Loeb email was a joke as far I'm concerned.

Let's see what the future brings, and let's hope it doesn't involve extinction!!

Petchy might have to relocate and come out of retirement otherwise!

[Holly Wood]

Originally Posted by mountainstar

Chevron I think does an outstanding job and always has for that matter. I think I have been subscribing since 1998 to MRA and then AMC as well. And I think they have done a great job with a lot of DVD's they have put out. A lot of that footage would remain unseen if not for them and it's nice for me to be able to see that footage that was before my time.

I agree with your sentiment in some cases, but certainly not with the 'Classic Australian Touring Car Races' series that they've been doing lately.

The ABC had been putting these races on late night free-to-air TV for everyone to enjoy. Oastler and the Chevron crew promptly saw a dollar in it, and bought the rights to flog them as DVDs and stop anymore being shown free on TV...

[Alan52]

The print edition of MNews has been plummeting in quality since it became a monthly magazine.It is not a news/race report magazine which was the meat of the publication in the old fortnightly days and as a features magazine it is vastly inferior to Motor Racing Australia in writing standards ,picture content and most certainly print quality.As for being "Australia's best ever motorsport magazine" I can only think you never saw Racing Car News in either the Max Stahl,Mark Fogarty or the initial 18 months of the Andrew Clarke/Chevron era's.Speaking of disappearing titles has anyone else noted that V8 Supercar Yearbook is now defunct -a victim of its own decision to try to present a sports annual as a coffee table book with increasingly less detailed editorial content(compare the first and last editions of the book) and its bizarre publisher only sales model.

[Holly Wood]

Originally Posted by pplater

I'm a bit wary of what's happening.

The amalgamation of magazines and prominence of an online news service started by a PR company point to a brave new world in motorsport media.

This is a far bigger issue than the MN/Chevron one. MN would have done the Speedcafe style daily news website three years ago if the numbers staked up.

Clearly they don't, and their eNews solution didn't work either. The insistence on subscription was surely not a plan from the outset, but rather a desperate measure to increase revenue when they realised the advertising was just never going to cover it.

Speedcafe can only exist because it gives extra value to the BAM Media customers. Don't get me wrong, it's very useful for us fans, but we've got to be rather wary of its content.

[Bevan-L]

Originally Posted by Rachel Richards

BTW, I'm not for a minute suggesting it will, as Chevron have been pretty faithful to Australian Motorsport, over the journey; even before TC & his three ring circus arrived in town !

Is that why i had to buy a copy of the 1998 Australian Super Touring Car Championship and the 1998 Super Touring Bathurst 1000 VHS tapes from Duke in the UK cos Chevron is that faithful...... and before anyone says anything, the tapes are the same ones which Chevron originally published

nothing like having to find local motorsport footage internationally.

[MickAU]

I thought it a bit left field, but can understand where MN's coming from. It would seem the monthly on top of the weekly was too onerous with the resources at hand.

The solution was obviously to almalgamate with a specialist, contribute articles and opinion, but let them collate it...it's a pretty sound decision in my book.

[racer69]

Will this affect "Australian Muscle Car" in any way? There was the synergy of both AMC and MRA being bi-monthly, but on opposite months

MRA wasn't too bad, it is a shame to lose that title in the merger

[cavvy]

Who is running Chevron these days ? Didnt always agree with Ray Berghouse but his quality was always the best he could deliver & motorsport #1 along with flying.

Good luck Chris !

[Holly Wood]

Originally Posted by racer69

MRA wasn't too bad, it is a shame to lose that title in the merger

Will the MRA name be lost in the merger of the two mags?

Having a monthly magazine made up of features and calling it 'Motorsport News' doesn't really make sense...

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by Holly Wood

I agree with your sentiment in some cases, but certainly not with the 'Classic Australian Touring Car Races' series that they've been doing lately.

The ABC had been putting these races on late night free-to-air TV for everyone to enjoy. Oastler and the Chevron crew promptly saw a dollar in it, and bought the rights to flog them as DVDs and stop anymore being shown free on TV...

I don't have a problem with that at all. With the DVD you can watch them anytime for years into the future.

[eduardo1]

Guys, it might be worthwhile separating the Chevron DVD business from the Chevron publishing business in this conversation.

Chevron DVDs are, while part of the same company, a separate division and they are a merely a distributor of DVDs, they are not a producer as such. They distribute what other people make.

The publishing arm is what is merging with MNews and I think it's excellent. The one thing that separates Chevron & MNews from Auto Action is the passion of the staff. This is in no small part reflected by the longevity of the staff involved. Chris Lambden & Phil Branagan have been at MNews for over a decade and in Motorsport journalism long before that. Steve Normoyle at Chevron for close to 20 years, while Chevron's owner, Ray Berghouse, clocked up his 50th Bathurst 'start' last year.

It's this passion and awareness of motorsport history and their parts in recording it that makes their publications such good quality and why, whoever ultimately they work for, they will continue to produce such good work.

Btw, Chevron has been owned by Next Media for around 2 years - has anyone noticed any major change in the content of their publications in that time?