TV Guide Magazine’s owners see the ever-expanding TV channel lineup as a big boon to business, since networks and studios are now spending in the magazine to cut through the clutter.
TV Guide, owned by Beverly Hills private-equity firm OpenGate Capital, boasted a remarkable 37 percent increase in advertising pages in the fourth quarter compared with the same period in 2011, according to the Publishers Information Bureau. Magazines overall lost an average of 7 percent of their ad pages during the quarter.
David Fishman, a consultant for OpenGate’s media operations, said networks and studios increased their tune-in marketing during the quarter in the hopes of reaching the magazine’s 2 million subscribers.
“We think we’re in a leadership position with the increased fragmentation in the TV landscape,” Fishman said. “The networks, cable and studios are a robust and growing category.”
OpenGate has been trying to revive the magazine since purchasing it in 2008 from Macrovision – now Rovi Corp. of Santa Clara – for $1 and the assumption of liabilities.
Part of the effort has been shifting the editorial focus to recommendations on what to watch, rather than just listings. It even adopted the slogan “What’s Worth Watching.”
The magazine’s circulation is down 90 percent from its peak of 20 million three decades ago.
But Andrew Nikou, OpenGate managing partner, said the current 2 million subscriber rate base is stable and that the magazine is profitable.
The magazine is owned and operated separately from the cable TV channel, TV Guide Network, which is owned by Santa Monica independent studio Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and a private-equity firm One Equity Partners in New York. Industry trade paper the Hollywood Reporter reported last year that the channel is up for sale, which led to speculation that the channel’s potential buyer would also want the magazine to realign the brands.
Still, Nikou said he doesn’t expect to sell the magazine in the foreseeable future and plans to continue to grow the magazine in its new direction.
“(It’s) an acquisition-and-build strategy,” he said.
Ticket Trouble
Entrepreneur Christina Kim turned the lights and music back on at the historic Belasco Theater in downtown Los Angeles two years ago, after she led an ambitious renovation of the venue that cost a reported $10 million.
But it appears she overspent. The theater’s holding company, Belasco Theater Entertainment Inc., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month with liabilities of about $3 million. Kim is the company’s majority shareholder.
The renovation transitioned the previously shuttered 40,000-square-foot venue to include a main theater for live shows, an upstairs ballroom, a basement lounge, two restaurant spaces, two outdoor patios and a bar space. Originally built by oil tycoon Edward Doheny in 1926, it sat dormant for more than two decades until Kim purchased the property.
Since reopening, it has become a trendy hub for electronic dance music concerts and other live events.
The theater remains open during the bankruptcy restructuring. Events scheduled this month include a performance from Dutch DJ Jorn Van Deynhoven.
Creditors include an affiliate of Hollywood real estate firm Denley Investment & Management Co. as well as PUB Construction Inc. of Diamond Bar.
Kim did not return a call for comment.
Policing Internet
Santa Monica video game publisher Activision Blizzard Inc. found itself in the unusual position of policing the North Korean government last week – on YouTube.
The North Korean government has its own YouTube channel, Uriminzokkiri. It posted a video to the channel last week purporting to depict the destruction of New York.
The footage for that scene, however, had been lifted from Activision video game “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3,” apparently without the game company’s consent. Shortly after it was posted, the video was taken down, with a notice that Activision had removed it.
Investing in News
Burbank station KNBC (Channel 4) and its owner, Comcast Corp., are betting L.A. viewers could go for more news over the weekend.
The station announced last week that it will add a half-hour to its 5 p.m. newscast Saturday and Sunday, along with an additional half-hour that will be added to the 11 p.m. Sunday newscast.
Under Comcast ownership, the station has been reinvesting in news operations, hiring about a dozen newsroom workers last year. In August, the station expanded its noon newscast by a half-hour.
Staff reporter Jonathan Polakoff can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 226.
