A rumor was floating just this afternoon that Page Six Magazine, the Sunday Post insert backpacking on the venerable gossip column's brand, was closing. So rejoice, because that is not the case. It's just going quarterly.

Already one brand extension didn't work out: PageSix.com. That thing folded just a few months after launch. But P6M was above that trivial gossip — it was a talkative society-esque magazine that was supposed to attract the luxury advertising dollars that the Times' T magazine scored. And it did. Until the bottom of America's economy fell out.

The shrinkage of P6M is bad news all around: One fewer outlet for freelancers, one fewer staff position for print media's roster, and one fewer places for publicists to plant their restaurant listings.

"As a result of the difficult economy and continuing advertising decline across the industry, Page Six Magazine will now be published four times a year," announced Jennifer Jehn, Senior Vice President. "We're proud that it's a great magazine and, should the advertising market improve in the future, we will revisit publishing it more frequently."

The last weekly edition of Page Six Magazine is expected to be in paper on Sunday, February 15, 2009.