Big print distributor cuts deal with digital distributor

Interesting item from Media Daily News concerning a partnership between traditional newsstand disributor Kable Distribution Services and the digital publication distributor Newsstand Inc. It seems to involve Kable providing access to its print clients and selling digital subs as one of several alternatives, while Newsstand does all the digital fulfillment. The two companies will share any of the results (so far speculative, since the deal has just been announced and none of Kable's 600 clients have yet signed on).

The most striking quote in the story is the following, from Chip Smith, vice president of Client Services for Kable:

"There is a changing retail environment for magazines, and we have to get publications into the hands of people in the ways they are now reading them.Plus, we want to save a few trees."