A cylinder of a printing unit of a web-fed printing press includes a cylinder channel which receives plate ends and includes plate end retaining devices. A remotely controllable actuating device or an actuator is located in the channel. The actuating device, or actuator is preferably a piezoelectric system or is in the form of a magnetostrictive system. This actuator is usable, preferably during continuous printing, to shift a plate end retaining device inside the channel in an axial direction of the cylinder to achieve an improved register precision and lateral register precision. The device makes it possible to counteract the influence of a transverse strain imposed by the material to be printed and acting transverse to its direction of conveyance, such a transverse strain having an effect on a common printed image that is printed at different positions of the printing unit.