Universal Uclick now Andrews McMeel Syndicate

[D Heine]

Did anyone notice that for most of the comic strips distributed by Universal Uclick/UFS starting this January 2-7, 2017 they are now distributed as by Andrews McMeel Syndicate/Syndication? Some comic strips like Garfield and the rerun strips of Peanuts, For Better or For Worse, Doonesbury, and Get Fuzzy (and at least for this week only: The Duplex and Grand Avenue which is in rerun mode/rerun week for these two) still carry the Universal Uclick copyright.

[D.D.Degg]

D Heine wrote:
> Did anyone notice that for most of the comic strips distributed
> by Universal Uclick/UFS starting this January 2-7, 2017
> they are now distributed as by Andrews McMeel Syndicate/Syndication?

Good (and quick) catch.

I can't find any news about the name switch,
but their home page, while still found under the Universal url,
http://www.universaluclick.com/
has also changed to Andrews McMeel Syndication.

D.D.Degg

[Allan Holtz]

Well thank goodness they've discarded that ridiculous pseudo-techie name. "Hey look at us, we're modern and cool" -- yeah, just as cool as grandpa is when he tries to impress the grandkids with non sequiturs asking if they are snapchatting with uber on their VR apps.

Now if only someone with half a brain at Tribune Content Agency would realize that marketing "content" sounds roughly equivalent to "crap that takes up space". What an awful, awful name. "If quality isn't an issue, and you have space that needs crap in it, buy our crap that just takes up space."

Sorry, got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

[edmun...@gmail.com]

On Monday, January 2, 2017 at 12:51:54 PM UTC-8, D Heine wrote:
> ... they are now distributed as by Andrews McMeel Syndicate/Syndication?

I always considered that a synonym for GoComics.

[D.D.Degg]

D.D.Degg wrote:
> D Heine wrote:
> > Did anyone notice that for most of the comic strips distributed
> > by Universal Uclick/UFS starting this January 2-7, 2017
> > they are now distributed as by Andrews McMeel Syndicate/Syndication?
>
> Good (and quick) catch.

> I can't find any news about the name switch...

From an undated news item:
"In 1970, John McMeel and Jim Andrews founded
Universal Press Syndicate (UPS), which grew to be the
largest independent content syndicate in the world.
In 2009, we merged with our digital division and changed
our name to Universal Uclick to reflect our changing business landscape.

"We have again updated our name in the interest of
acknowledging our visionary founders and to represent
our evolving business strategies. As of January 1, 2017,
we are now known as Andrews McMeel Syndication."
http://www.universaluclick.com/press/news/203

The dailies were quickly changed over at the beginning
of the year; the Sundays are slowly changing - some
last Sunday, some more this coming Sunday.
Wonder if we can tell how far ahead the strips are
by when they switch the distribution notice.
For Sunday January 15 Dilbert and Pearls Before Swine
are still carrying the "Universal Uclick" notice.
http://estripes.osd.mil/

D.D.Degg

[D Heine]

I also guess Garfield (first run daily/Sunday) and Peanuts (rerun daily/Sunday) are slowing changing as well to that AMS trademark. Same for the daily strip that took a rerun week this week - Grand Avenue.

[John W Kennedy]

Andrews McMeel has always been their name in the book trade, hasn’t it?
They probably feel that has a lot more meaning to the average consumer.

--
John W. Kennedy
"The blind rulers of Logres
Nourished the land on a fallacy of rational virtue."
-- Charles Williams. "Taliessin through Logres: Prelude"