More cutbacks at the Tampa Tribune, which began distributing fliers notifying the public it will stop daily delivery in Pinellas after Sunday -- converting subscriptions to Sunday-only delivery and offering a free week of USA Today until the following Friday.

Recently, the paper also recast its Sunday TV book as a full-size tabloid packed with scheduling charts -- a format presumably cheaper than the traditional, smaller Sunday TV book that some newspapers have printed elsewhere.

I have calls into Tribune officials to ask about the thinking behind these recent moves. But since the competition between the Tribune and St. Petersburg Times has heated up in recent months, there's hasn't been a lot of on-the-record dialogue.

The open question: Whether the Tribune's increasingly Web-focused strategy -- and shrinking staff -- will handle the media recession better than the Times' continuing support of a more traditional newsroom.

Click below to read the press release issued by Media General late today:

Tampa, FL - As the Tampa market leader for newspaper readership in Hillsborough and Pasco counties, The Tampa Tribune is making a change in circulation distribution. 

While weekday home delivery in Pinellas County will cease on Monday, May 18, 2009, Sunday home delivery will continue. The Tampa Tribune will be available seven days a week at nearly 1,500 sales locations throughout Pinellas County. “The business decision has no effect on the commitment of the news staff to cover Pinellas County,” Tribune Managing Editor Richard "Duke" Maas said.

 “We are Tampa’s hometown newspaper. The Tampa Tribune has 105,721 more weekday circulation than the St. Petersburg Times and 132,307 more Sunday circulation than the St. Petersburg Times in our core market of Hillsborough and Pasco counties,“ stated Tommie McLeod, Director of Circulation for The Tampa Tribune.

In readership, The Tampa Tribune reaches a weekday audience of 549,200 and 788,200 on Sundays.* The Tampa Tribune/TBO.com combined weekly audience is 1,246,400.

In fact, Florida Communications Group partners WFLA-TV, TBO.com and The Tampa Tribune have a combined audience reach of 2.4 million people, providing more complete and comprehensive local news coverage than any other media company in the marketplace. 

*