The newsstand editions are pdf type recreations of the printed product that are sold as an "electronic subscription" so it is counted as paid circulation by the ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulations).
There is much abuzz in the newspaper land about digital paper, etc attempting to retain the 3-dimensional quality of a newspaper page with all the "electronic" customisation and entertainment value.
Personally this and the whole newsstand model are nothing more than newspaper death masks.
The demographic shift towards on-demand personalised news based upon relevancy and context and delivered using the same criteria are forcing the geographically focused media outlets into a scramble for niche products with broad subscriber appeal. You will see smaller one-paper towns focusing on, say, the local wine industry and build a subscriber base around this topic while depending upon banner advertising to support the rest of the news.
Newspapers with solid national brand awareness are in the same situation but are segmenting into areas of relevance leveraging their existing brand identity as authoritative source of "x" news be it politics, national security, entertainment.
Deep pocket and forward thinking national newspaper brands are agressively transforming the print brand into a multiple media brand. The NYT is the best example of this execution.
Wire services, such as AP, fill most newspapers in the US today as most are AP members. AP is a consortium. In the future you will most likely see AP going direct to the consumer and competing with the large multiple media outlets such as Gannett, Knight-Ridder, Tribune and NYT who are currently members.
