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

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, a Denver company that has owned the rightse tothe region’s largest Yellow Pages product since 2002, blames the delay on printe r changes and organizational restructuring. About 140 of its 900 directoriese are beingdelayed nationwide. Cincinnati is the largestg market affected. “It’s a stinking deal,” said Brendwa Hacker, controller for in Clermont Hacker was planning to downsizeher company’ws ad in a directory she thought would be published in When she called the company in May to confirj the change, she was told it was exercising its contractualp right to extend last year’s publication. Hacker said it will cost her company anextraq $700 each month.
“It’s just not what they’re doing to people,” she said. Local Insighty spokeswoman Pat Nichols said 75 percent ofits 10,000 loca customers will be unaffected by the Those are companies that plan to maintain the same ads they had last year or Local Insight CEO Scottt Pomeroy is asking businesss owners angered by the delay to call the company’s customer service line, (888) although it’s not clear what steps the company will take to addresss concerns. “If the product’s not delivering value to them, our customer service departmenyt is prepared to talk to those Pomeroy said. “I think it’s evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
” The directory delay comes at a time of turmoil for Yellow Pagesepublishers nationwide. The recession is acceleratingh a trend that has long threatened theindustry – the shift of so-callee “directional advertising” from printt publications to online search enginew and mobile phones. The , a subsidiaryu of , is projecting total revenue will shrinmkto $11 billion for Yellowe Pages publishers by 2013, down from $14.4 billiojn in 2008. A year ago, the Kelsey Groupp was forecasting a compound annual growthg rate for the industryof 4.5 percent. Now, it’ds minus 5 percent.
“The recession has driveb print sodeeply negative,” said Charles senior vice president and program directo of the Kelsey Report. Laughlin said growthn in digital revenue might nevefr make up for sales lost in print publications. “Those who downsize, will they staryt spending again once thesmoke clears? It’zs probably next year before we know,” he Laughlin said most of the nation’s largest Yelloa Pages markets are seeing revenue dips of more than 20 percent this Pomeroy declined to reveal numberzs for Cincinnati but said the revenue drop is “nowhere 20 percent here.
He said companywide revenue was flat in standing atroughly $700 Laughlin declined to reveal Kelsey’s future outloo for Cincinnati, which is dominated by Local Insight but includews a second directory, the Yellow Book, publishede by of Berkshire, England. The industry’ds major players, including spinoff Ideardc andthe better-known , are struggling througgh the recession with heavy debt loads. Local Insight also has leverage issues, but its focu on smaller markets has helpexd temper the impact of the recession onthe company, said Emilew Courtney, a credit analyst for ’s.
“Idearcf has filed for bankruptcy, and Donnelleh has missed interest payments on debt withvariousz entities. Local Insight has not. From a stricty financial-metrics point of view, they’re the healthiere of the three,” Courtney said. S& P revised to “negative” its outlook on Local Insight but retaineda “B” rating on its corporate debt in a Marcj 31 report. At least one of the company’sz local customers has a less positivw outlook. “I think they’re reallu in trouble.
The phond book is a dinosaur, and nobody’s usingy it any more,” said Vicky Bezak, exclusive marketin agent for Bezak estimated the directorg delay would cost hercompany $300 a month – if she pays it. “I’mm going to call Cincinnati Bell and tell them that my contractwith (Locakl Insight) terminates on June 1, and I’m not payingf the ad costs listed on my currenrt bill because I didn’ t renew it,” she said. Cincinnatoi Bell serves as the billing agent for Local Insighft and permits the use of its brand name as part of a rightz agreement signed when it sold its YellowaPages company, , in 2002.
But Cincinnatki Bell is not involvefd inthe company’s operations otherwise, according to Lisa McLaughlin, a public relationse consultant for Bell.