• Mediaweek, Wednesday, November 16, 2005 12:45 PM

After just seven months, TV Guide has killed off its spawn, Inside TV. The weekly magazine had been intended to reach young, celebrity-adoring television fans, but instead it reached ... well, hardly anybody. Newsstand numbers were deeply disappointing, reportedly half the 400,000 rate base, and there were few signs of an upward trend. Worse, the product had committed the most awful sin possible for a slick weekly: it failed to generate any buzz on the street. "We are now pursuing a more focused strategy of building upon our company's considerable core assets, including the TV Guide brand," said Rich Battista, Gemstar-TV Guide's CEO. Unfortunately, this canned corporate-speak sounds familiar to anyone who's observed the decline of the TV Guide franchise over the last several years. Inside TV was, in fact, a bold and expensive effort to leverage the TV Guide brand across a wider demo; TV Guide itself was long ago abandoned by young consumers, and had mostly disappeared from newsstand pockets as well. Inside TV was supposed to stem the tide and refresh the company's aging sub list. While a slew of other celeb titles have recently posted impressive circulation gains, Inside TV, which competed against them, never gained traction. According to Mediaweek, 40 staffers will lose their jobs as a result of Inside TV's demise. The current editor, Steve LeGrice, who had come over from Bauer Publishing, is expected to stay on until January. Inside TV's final issue will be dated November 21 .

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