Polestar was able to use its two new 96pp presses for part of the mammoth task, which involves so much print compressed into a such a short timescale that it also called on a raft of usually rival printers to assist: Pindar, Precision Colour Printing, Prinovis and Wyndeham Group.
Hibbert thanked the firms involved for their “huge support in this production.”
The magazines produced were Immediate Media’s venerable Radio Times, Time Inc UK’s What’s on TV and TV Times; and TV Choice and Total TV Guide published by H Bauer.
TV Choice, What’s on TV and Radio Times are the UK's top three newsstand magazines with ABC circulations of 1.3m, just over 1m and 756,000 respectively.
The Christmas double issue of Radio Times typically sells around 2m copies.
The entire project encompassed 8.3m stitched magazines, which Polestar said involved the equivalent of more than 51m 32pp sections. It involved gravure and web offset output, with Polestar producing the bulk of the work across 19 presses and 15 stitching lines.
Hibbert said: "The annual production of Christmas TV Listings magazines is always a high point for us and this year was more exciting than ever, due to larger paginations and the use of additional product enhancements - proof indeed that print is certainly on the up!”
What’s on TV switched to a glossy UV varnished cover for its special issue, while the 292pp Radio Times has a 6pp gatefold cover. TV Choice has increased its pagination.
Hibbert added that the group's two new Goss International Sunday 5000 96pp presses were running at “world class” speeds.
Production was completed on Monday (8 December) and the titles are now on sale.
