In an email message sent out to The Tribune's subscribers on July 30, Publisher Tim Ritchey broke the news that the local daily is planning to stop publishing its Saturday print edition as part of a "new weekend package" the newspaper is launching on Nov. 2.

That package will include new puzzles and a themed section in the Friday print edition, a Saturday eEdition with supplemental sections, and more puzzles and comics in the Sunday print edition.

"While we will no longer produce a printed newspaper on Saturday, we will continue to publish the strong independent local journalism you expect from The Tribune online seven days a week," Ritchey said.

He added that subscription rates would remain the same. New Times reached out to Ritchey for comment and heard back from Jeanne Segal, the director of public relations and communications for McClatchy, The Trib's parent company.

Segal said via email that the news industry has undergone a dramatic transformation over the last 10 years, and McClatchy is leaning into it by delivering news on a variety of platforms, including websites, mobile applications, social media sites, podcasts, and eEditions.

"Our newsroom in San Luis Obispo is digital first and it is the same with our other 29 newsrooms across the country," Segal said.

She said that although McClatchy hasn't cut the Saturday print editions at any of its other California publications, it has launched digital Saturdays in other communities.

She added that print customers will continue to have access to The Trib's online news sites and the daily eEdition, which includes a supplement called EXTRA EXTRA with more national and entertainment news as well as feature stories.

"Going digital on Saturdays for our print customers will allow us to make investments in our digital offerings," Segal said. "In fact, our digital audience is now bigger than our print circulation on Saturdays."