Johannesburg, xx August 2018:  Tiso Blackstar has launched the Times Select mobile app that enables Sunday Times and Times Select subscribers to access and read national, business, lifestyle, sport and world news in a compact daily edition, as curated by Tiso Blackstar’s expert editorial team. The Times Select app also features SA’s first digital, interactive crosswords.

Times Select (www.timesselect.co.za) was launched in February 2018 as SA’s first digital daily news edition. As of 1 August 2018, Tiso Blackstar’s paid-for subscription model came into effect, which includes the Times Select app as a new and exciting value-add for subscribers.

“The app is absolutely necessary for a single daily edition like Times Select,” says Times Select editor Fienie Grobler. “It means that the whole edition is available for offline reading, making it a must have for frequent travellers, and people who like the finite experience of a newspaper, but on a mobile platform.”

Times Select’s eclectic mix of stories, analysis and opinion – from writers including Justice Malala, Tom Eaton, Tony Leon, Andile Ndlovu, Jonathan Jansen, Darrel Bristow-Bovey, Wendy Knowler and Ranjeni Munusamy – is presented in an easy-to-read format that continues to attract a loyal readership.  The app is the next step in delivering a daily dose of essential journalism to readers.

 

Grobler says: “In addition to our news and analysis offering, the interactive daily crosswords are a great drawcard which is proving to be a huge hit with readers. It provides something different and entertaining that works beautifully in a mobile environment.”

 

Overseen by Tiso Blackstar Head of Product Percy Goetsch and built in conjunction with Cape Town companies F8 Development and Flat Circle, the app is a product of proudly South African tech, and is the first of a suite of new apps planned for Tiso Blackstar products in the coming year.

With the launch of the app, Tiso Blackstar offers a number of subscription options which can be digital-only, or include print delivery of the Sunday Times.  Subscribers can opt for unlimited access to Times Select (including the app), the Sunday Times website and e-edition (a digital replica of the printed newspaper) for R80,  or with delivery of the print edition of the Sunday Times for a cost of R89 per month. Times Select subscribers also have access to exclusive content from The Daily Telegraph in the UK, and an option to subscribe to the Daily Telegraph at a discount. Times Select content is also available with a 24-hour day pass, for a cost of R10.

Existing Sunday Times subscribers will continue to have free access to content on the Times Select website, as well as the app.

For those readers accessing Times Select via laptop or PC, the latest edition will be online at www.timesselect.co.za  daily, from Monday to Friday at 5am. Subscribers will also be able to sign up for the morning newsletter delivered via email.

The new Times Select app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store. For more information and FAQs, click here.

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Issued by:                Samantha Pugh, Pugh Public Relations & Corporate Communications

e: sam@pughpr.co.za   c:  071 874 5460

On behalf of:           Lisa MacLeod, Head of Digital, Tiso Blackstar Group

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