The nation's two leading gay print magazines, Out and The Advocate, were, until this month, owned by PlanetOut Partners. In a deal that's just closed, they are now the property of Regent Entertainment, the gay-focused entertainment company behind pay-channel Here! TV, which picked up the magazines for a song: $6 million, paid in a complex (read: we still don't understand it) advertising deal that didn't involve cash. That's because PlanetOut is basically a junk bond, carrying so much debt even Bill Gates' attempt to save it with a cash infusion didn't work. How come? Because somehow, even with all those ad dollars leaving television and fueling the Internet and niche markets like GLBT, the magazines are suffering. But also because it's generally accepted knowledge that the gays don't need a gay magazine anymore; Details and GQ are filling the void for fashion and lifestyle, while blogs like our own Queerty is where they're going for the news. Which explains why The Advocate, once the place for gay news, is admitting it's losing the battle to survive:

CONTINUED »

Big news from gay mag The Advocate.

After 15-years as editor, Anne Stockwell has “stepped down,” thus making room for new EIC Jon Barrett, who will apparently be leading the long-running pub in a “new direction.” And here! networks, which bought the PlanetOut periodicals earlier this year, couldn’t be more excited about the regime change.

CONTINUED »