Having just snapped up Gemstar-TV Guide for $2.8 billion, new owner Macrovision is, as expected, already looking for a buyer for TV Guide the magazine. [NYT] It was no big secret from the beginning that Macrovision was interested in Gemstar's technology, but not its print asset, or its television channels (the TV Guide Channel, and horse-racing station TVG). The new owner is, however, interested in keeping TVGuide.com, which in the digital era is viewed as a more substantial asset that the ink-and-paper brand, though hanging on to the magazine's domain name, we imagine, could be a sticking point for a sale.

Or not.

Very quickly, the magazine has done an about-face. This is interesting.

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TV Guide veteran editor Ian Birch, pictured, who oversaw the magazine's revamp away from a dial listings title, along with managing editor Lois Draegin and exec ed Steve Sonsky, were dismissed from the magazine following yesterday's shareholder-approved sale of Gemstar-TV Guide to Macrovision, Jossip hears. We're told the removals were expected, though some staffers thought brass would wait more than 24 hours for the dismissals. "What a dickhead move," says one miffed staffer. Indeed.