Magazine publishers are unhappy that they sell their product so cheaply. The average subscription price of a magazine has dropped 17 percent in the last five years.`
The Times notes that publishers hate to lower their guaranteed circulations (the logical result of higher subscription prices) because it leads to lower ad rates.
From the article: ‘In Arizona, Ken Auletta, the media reporter for The New Yorker, was the host of a panel of chief executives who all made arguments decrying low subscription prices and suggesting that someone should do something about the problem sometime. “You all run big media companies,” he said. “You have the power to do it.’