Cebu Daily News launches digital edition

The Philippine Daily Inquirer’s sister titles have joined the party. Now added to the Inquirer’s Digital Edition (https://bit.ly/Inquirer-digital) for iPads, iPhones, iPod Touch devices and Android tablets and smartphones are the Inquirer’s regional paper in Cebu, Cebu Daily News, and the national tabloid, Bandera.

The addition marks the first time the full content of both Inquirer titles has been made completely available online to benefit both local and overseas readers. “The addition of Cebu Daily News and Bandera to the Inquirer Group’s menu of digital editions is part of our efforts to evolve print into strong multimedia brands in order to deliver more value to readers,” said Imee Alcantara, Vice President for Operations of Inquirer Publications Inc., the Inquirer unit that publishes the two papers.

“We recognize that newspapers will continue to play a role in our lives so it is just a matter of making news and information available, not just on paper, but on as many touch points as possible. The digital edition gives us the opportunity to bundle our print with digital products and reach more consumers in an efficient way,” she added.

The Digital Edition of the papers combines the full, traditional print layout of Cebu Daily News and Bandera (ads, photos, classifieds, columns, supplements are all available) with the interactive features of a website. Stories can be tweeted, shared on Facebook, sent by e-mail, read out loud, and printed. E-mail alerts can notify readers when a topic is mentioned in an issue. In addition to the interactive features, companion apps for Apple iOS devices (https://bit.ly/inq-digital-ios) and Android devices (https://inq-digital-android) let subscribers store several months’ worth of issues on their tablet or smartphone. Several devices can access issues under one account.

“We’re excited about giving a different reader experience,” said Publisher Eileen G. Mangubat. “You can flip through pages on your desktop or hand-held device, something that appeals to a wider audience that appreciates the look and feel of a classic paper in a digital environment,” she said. Subscriptions for Cebu Daily News and Bandera are $5.95 a month and $56.95 annually. Quarterly ($15.95) and semi-annual ($26.99) plans are also available. A free 30-day trial subscription is available for each title.

Cebu Daily News digital subscribers can use the offer code CDNFREE30 while Bandera subscribers can use the offer code BANDERA30 when registering.

Six-month and annual print subscribers of Cebu Daily News are entitled to matching complimentary subscriptions to the Digital Edition for the length of their print subscriptions.

A combined subscription to all three titles—Inquirer, Cebu Daily News and Bandera—is $17.95 a month, $47.95 a quarter, $78.95 semi-annually or $167.95 annually.

The combined subscription also automatically includes Sunday Inquirer Magazine, Junior Inquirer and Inquirer Golf Monthly. The latter two are only available online through the Digital Edition. As a special promo on the occasion of Independence Day, the Inquirer Digital Edition will also offer a free 30-day subscription to all available titles. Simply select “1-month free trial” when selecting a subscription plan.” At first, we thought a digital edition was just for the broadsheets and would never appeal to masa readers of Bandera,” said Dona Policar, associate editor of Bandera.

“On second thought, this new thing, at least for a tabloid like Bandera, could be an alternative choice for Pinoys abroad, those who terribly miss the news back home and lots of local showbiz chika and columns written in Filipino.”