How Will P-I Shutdown Affect Subscribers?

How will the P-I's publishing shutdown affect subscribers? Many have subscriptions that continue well beyond the expected demise of the printed newspaper.

Kay Shouby of Ballard has subscribed to the P-I for years. In fact, she has prepaid her current subscription for the next two months.

MORE ON THIS STORY Information for PI customers will be posted at seattletimescompany.com.

What happens if the paper stops publishing in the coming days? She wonders, too.

"Well, I assume they'll shift it to the Seattle Times. But that's just an assumption," she said.

For right now, an assumption is all it can be. Since the Seattle Times handles circulation for both papers, we asked the company what will happen to P-I subscribers -- and their money -- after the P-I stops publishing.

No one would speak on camera, but sources at the Times said they have contingency plans to welcome P-I subscribers. But those plans won't be made public until the fate of the P-I is known.

But what happens if current P-I subscribers don't want to take the Times instead?

"Well, their money should be refunded in that case," said Shouby.

But those same sources at the Times tell us there are no contingences for refunds, at least not yet.

Meantime, everyone is waiting for Hearst, the P-I's corporate owner, to announce plans for the paper and it's thousands of subscribers.

"Hearst is expecting people to plan at the last minute and that's, we think, a disservice to the readers of Seattle," said Kathy George of the Committee for a Two-Newspaper Town.

If you have a current subscription to the P-I, our sources tell us you can expect to hear from the Times soon after the paper stops publishing. But exactly what you'll hear will have to wait until the P-I's final day in print.

The Seattle Times has established a Web site to provide the latest information on the status of subscriptions at seattletimescompany.com.