Newspaper & Mailroom
New York Daily News orders multi-unit 6/2 KBA Commander CT
Thursday 14. February 2008 - Prominent US newspaper enters new era with innovative compact wet offset press from Koenig & Bauer
The New York Daily News has reaffirmed its commitment to print with a contract for a fifteen-tower, triple-width version of KBAs ultra-compact Commander CT. Founded in 1919 as the first US daily printed in tabloid form, the Daily News is the largest and most widely read newspaper in the New York metropolitan market and the fifth largest newspaper in the country. Along with its newly redesigned web site – NYDailyNews.com – the Daily News reaches 4.6 million readers per week. It has won ten Pulitzer Prizes.
Investment in the future of print
“I believe in the future of the Daily News; thats why I am making this significant investment,” says chairman and publisher Mort Zuckerman. “When the KBA printing presses are fully operational, the print quality of the Daily News will be head and shoulders above the competition and equal to any newspaper in the world. This will solidify our leadership in the New York market, reinforce our position as the countrys leading tabloid and raise the bar on newspaper production in the United States.”
“In one leap, we are strategically positioning our printed product to meet the ever-changing demands of todays and tomorrows advertisers and readers,” says Daily News CEO Marc Z Kramer. “When our new KBA Commander CT presses come on line, the Daily News will be the only major market daily newspaper in the United States with 100 per cent colour production capability and positioned brilliantly to maintain and increase our dominance of the New York media landscape.”
He continues: “Advertisers demands for high-quality colour in daily newspapers are a worldwide phenomenon, and nowhere is it in more demand than in New York, the media capital of the world. We live in a world of vivid colour and newspapers have to reflect that. Our new KBA presses will allow us to work even more closely with our advertisers to meet their ever-changing demands. In addition, these new presses will enable us to offer creative and innovative ways for advertisers messages to reach our millions of loyal readers. It is an opportunity we know they will want to seize.”
KBA deputy president Claus Bolza-Schünemann says: “The decision by such a prominent US media house to adopt the most advanced wet offset technology on the international market is proof of KBAs competence. We first explored the idea of six-wide presses with the Daily News exactly forty years ago, but only recent technologies and advances have led this unique concept to reality. The inauguration of a triple-wide KBA Commander CT in New York will mark a further milestone in our 191-year history, and will again focus on KBA as a mover and shaker in newspaper technology.”
Compact footprint, 6/2 output
Scheduled to go live in autumn 2009, the triple-wide Commander CT press line for the Daily News will have three sections, each with five Pastomat reelstands, five towers and one KF 7 jaw folder. It will be embedded in a Patras A automated reel-logistics system complete with storage and retrieval vehicles, splice preparation and on-demand reel loading.
Automation will include blanket washing, colour registration, fully automated KBA PlateTronic plate changers, KBA RollerTronic roller locks and KBA NipTronic cylinder bearings. The press will also feature cut-off controls and ribbon stitchers. It will be controlled from six consoles incorporating a job scheduling and press presetting system complete with materials management software.