The Observer axes TV section to beef up Life

The Observer has confirmed that it is dropping its listings section Preview – as revealed in Marketing Week (May 24) – to fund an autumn promotional and advertising campaign, and new star journalists, for the Observer’s Life magazine.

A rolling redesign of the newspaper begins this Sunday when the masthead changes from red to black and the definite article returns to an upper case “T”.

Then, on July 21, the Preview section will be dropped and its TV listings integrated into the Life magazine. The title will be using celebrity writers, such as Clive Anderson and Angus Deayton, to write previews of their favourite TV programmes.

Andrew Billen, who currently does the magazine’s big star interviews, will move to the review section to cover more heavyweight topics. He will be replaced by Lynn Barber.

Preview was the brainchild of former editor Andrew Jaspan. Guardian Media Group head of marketing Stephen Palmer says the changes are designed to give the newspaper a harder edge and a more authoritative feel.

“Preview was there to provide a TV listing section, to give readers a reason to buy. The listings will still be there.”