British mid-market tabloid newspaper, The Daily Mail, launched in late July a program where readers can collect a printed token redeemable for a Pure One Mi portable DAB receiver.
The Daily Mail placed a value of £35.00 on the receiver, and 60 tokens from different days plus a special coupon (and £6.70 shipping costs) must be collected to get a free receiver. Cover price for paper is 50 pence (£1.50 for The Mail on Sunday), making the receiver giveaway a nice perquisite for subscribers and regular readers.
The paper plans to print 62 tokens between 19 July and 16 September; it is also offering the receivers at a price of £26.70 with 20 tokens, and listeners can purchase alongside the receiver a Pure ChargePAK rechargeable battery pack and a carrying case.
That The Daily Mail is promoting digital radio with the giveaway is interesting in that, editorially, the paper has been a critic of digital radio over the years, as digital media watcher Martin Belam has noted on his blog, currybetdotnet.
As recently as the beginning of July, the paper’s columnist Tom Utley warned “God help any digital meddling minister who dares to interfere with Mrs. Utley’s daily fix of the Archers!” and in March it carried a commentary from Sue MacGregor asking “Will someone please tell me why we need this mad switch to digital radio?”
News articles have cast the push to roll out digital radio as a costly burden upon citizens, such as the early July warning “Millions of motorists face £300 bill to install digital radios as ministers press ahead with FM switch-off.”
