In a sign that even its most promising titles are falling on hard times, The New York Times is scaling back the number of issues it publishes of T, its fashion and lifestyle supplement.
After appearing 15 times last year, the struggling newspaper company is scaling back T’s frequency to 12, according to a company spokeswoman.
There had been internal rumblings that T might soon go the way of Play, the sports supplement that folded last year due to poor advertising, or that it might end up as a special section within the main weekly insert, The New York Times Magazine on Sunday.
The scaling back of T marks the latest chapter in a storied past few years for the Times.
The company is lumbering under a mountain of debt, has little cash and has been in scramble mode the past few months trying to raise capital to make a $400 million debt payment in May. Earlier this month, its debt was downgraded to junk status, meaning it is eligible for only the most expensive forms of borrowing.
So far, the company has sold a $250 million stake in itself to Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim at an eye-popping 14 percent interest rate. It has also put up for sale its stake in the Boston Red Sox and has been in negotiations to mortgage part of its new Eighth Avenue headquarters.
From a business standpoint, the inserts helped drive revenue during the paper’s more flush times. But it came at a price, as they also faced withering criticism from insiders who argued the inserts’ journalistic standards were below that of the regular newspaper.
The tension exploded into a bitter round of finger pointing when T included in its December 2007 issue a soft-focus side shot of a 17-year-old model that included a glimpse of her exposed left breast.
Yesterday, New York Times Co.’s stock closed up a penny at $3.96 a share.