The Advocate and Out, two of the bigger names in LGBT magazine culture, have been swooped away from PlanetOut to the multi-platformed, queer-focused Regent Media.
Regent now owns those publications as well as The Out Traveler, HIV Plus, Alyson Books, and the Gaywired Media triumvirate (Gaywired, Shewired, and Gaysports). The company also produced Gods and Monsters and owns here! Networks, "America’s premium gay and lesbian television network." Regent owners Stephen Jarchow and Paul Colichman are the Donald Trumps of gay industry — with better hair and without the sleeping wit hot female models thing.
First order of business? Setting up video podcasting so The Advocate can go cover the DNC.
Press release after the jump:
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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 »
Before you get too excited, be clear that The Advocate’s Anderson Cooper cover story is not a coming out story. Sad, yes, but what can you do? Rather, the fag-rag’s dedicated it feature article on the always attractive silver fox.
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.
The conveyor belt between Out/The Advocate and BlackBook continues this week, with the hipster photo-fashion glossy losing publisher Joe Landry to his old haunt at the gay rags, filling in for Out publisher Jay Adams, who was fired this week. [NYO] Landry left the PlanetOut magazines two years ago. But this isn't the only example of high-level shuffles between the two. Out's editor Aaron Hicklin was courted away from BlackBook in April 2006; he's since been named the company's editorial director. Landry's exit, meanwhile, comes on the heels of managing editor Una LaMarche and photo director Shannon Hall leaving the magazine, and editor Steve Garbarino, who took over in May 2006, in a bind.
Meanwhile, Landry's move represents more than your average publisher swap. Out and The Advocate have battled very public financial blows, with declining ad revenue and a parent company, PlanetOut, that has looked upon fiscal responsibility as a child's pastime. Last month, the company was sold to Regent Entertainment for a glorified ad deal worth $6 million, putting the pressure on Landry to move ad pages even more intense.
There are new details on Regent Entertainment’s bid to buy The Advocate and Out.
San Francisco Business Times informs us that Regent, which owns gay network here!, gave PlanetOut an initial $500,000 to seal the deal, but the final sale will total $6 million in cash - far cheaper than we anticipated.
What perfect timing! Just days after Philadelphia Gay News‘ Hillary Clinton-donating publisher, Mark Segal blasted Barack Obama for not talking to the press, The Advocate announced that it’s about to publish an interview with the presidential candidate that it conducted yesterday.
At left, the new issue of Details: "Ryan Seacrest knows what you think of him."
At right, the January issue of The Advocate: "Lance Bass knows you talk trash about him."
It's not that we think Dan Peres copied The Advocate.
It's just there are so few things you can say about gay people to make them sound interesting.
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PlanetOut Partners is in a financial free-for-all, but that hasn't kept them from lifting Out magazine editor-in-chief Aaron Hicklin to the umbrella gig as editorial director for the whole company. Queerty exclusively brings news that Hicklin will be running all of the gay media company's operations, including, effectively, The Advocate. Perhaps it's just a stepping stone to give Hicklin full control of that floundering mag … or to help shutter it? Either way, there's talk of "Web 2.0"-izing hook-up site Gay.com and PlanetOut.com, which probably means they'll add Digg.com buttons to their stories.
Larry Kramer delivers shocking news to a repurposed The Advocate. [Queerty]
Bob Cohen, chief of Out and The Advocate publisher LPI Media, has just been let go. LPI's parent, PlanetOut Inc., has been drowning in financial problems as you might recall. But then Bill Gates came and saved the day with his checkbook. Well, except Bob Cohen's day.
The memo from PlanetOut's CEO Karen Magee below. CONTINUED »
Gay rag The Advocate, which Bill Gates just saved from certain death, is making good on those cosmetic changes it promised us. As Queerty first told us:
With the September anniversary issue, The Advocate will roll out a more vivid, sophisticated look under the direction of Luke Hayman, who recently redesigned Time and New York. It will feature a modern sans-serif logo and typeface, uncoated cover stock and bright, color-coded departments. “We feel now that we’ve got a design that reflects a mission to curate the news,” [editor Anne] Stockwell said.
Or, as the Times's Justin Jones points out, The Advocate is just doing away with the wrapper that covers the magazine when sent to subscribers, hiding the title … in case you don't want your neighbors to know you're a big 'mo.
It's The Advocate's way of, ahem, "coming out of the closet." It's also the Times way of completely ignoring, failing to mention, or even acknowledging this might be little more than a cost-saving measure.
PlanetOut Inc. has the world's richest person to thank for bailing it out from its financial troubles. None other than Bill Gates, through his Cascade Investment, is among the investors who sunk $26 million to save the flailing gay media conglomerate, which publishes magazines Out and The Advocate, porn titles Freshmen and Unzipped, and operates RSVP Vacations and Gay.com, publisher Alyson Books, and sells raunchy DVDs.
It's only a matter of time before searches for "gay porn" on MSN.com turn up PlanetOut's MenMachine.com.
We didn't actually think Out and The Advocate were at risk of folding — but spun off as an independent company? The possibility crossed our minds.
But never mind with all that! Their cash-strapped parent, PlanetOut Inc., just announced it secured $26.2 million in some type of financial arrangement that might be classified as, um, a sale? Queerty tries to suss things out; we remain confused. But alas, Out's Aaron Hicklin will still have his monthly underwear model budget. Rejoice!
Those gay magazines Out and The Advocate are not in trouble of imploding, despite reports! In addition to The Advocate undergoing some cosmetic changes to save itself, there's hope on the horizon. (Well, let's put "hope" in quotes.)
In between pointing its feet toward Jesus, Queerty relays this statement of clarity from PlanetOut, which owns LPI Media, publisher of those rags.
PlanetOut Inc.’s first major hurdle in its uphill climb toward fiscal solvency is just days away. After posting a $6.9 million loss the first quarter of this year, the company’s lender set June 30 as the date by which it must raise at least $7 million—with another $8 million to come by August 31.
That's June 30, as in tomorrow (when our attention will be on Janice Min, of course). It's going to be mildly amusing when they don't reach those cash infusion goals, especially since the gays are just so affluent these days.
Editorial Director
