MediaFile

Time Inc’s Sports Illustrated unveiled the details of another subscription plan for the Samsung Galaxy tablet computer and Android based smartphones — the print version of its  parent Time Warner Inc’s “TV everywhere” idea currently touted by Chief Executive Jeffrey Bewkes.  Like TV Everywhere, magazines everywhere charges one price for access to content across print and digital platforms.

The SI digital and print subscription plan comes on the heels of  a Time Inc announcement about a similar subscription plan for SI and People for  Hewlett-Packard’s forthcoming tablet device the TouchPad.

“The key to the media business is habituation,” said Time Inc EVP and Chief Digital Officer Randall Rothenberg.

Indeed, the SI digital app subscription plan is available everywhere with one glaring exception: Apple’s iTunes store.

That was the elephant in the room this morning when  Time Inc executives showed off the SI app on various devices. Currently, only single copy editions of SI are available on the iPad and iPhone. It’s a sore point among publishing executives who depend on subscriptions for circulation and more important, advertising revenue.

One of the aspects that gets lost in discussions about the wonders of digital readers and tablets is how they might change the shape of  advertising.  Thankfully this morning a Time Inc. panel about tablets sparked a conversation about how ads could be built in new ways on digital devices – especially the iPad — and how publishers can benefit.

Sports Illustrated is thinking pretty deeply about these issues.  As one example it  previewed a very cool Gatorade.  The ad had traditional elements like video  and readers could choose different “branded”  Gatorade bottles.  For example by selecting the Michael Jordan bottle,  users could have the choice of viewing old clips of Jordan in action or pulling up nutritional information.  One could easily spend a lot time playing around with the ad.

As Sports Illustrated Editor Terry McDonell put it: “Advertising will become content.”