Trade publisher Cygnus Business Media will be restructuring under Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, which will result in a secured debt-equity exchange to reduce the company's debt. The publisher had reached an agreement with 23 of its 24 lenders on a pre-packaged restructuring plan, but the out-of-court settlement required a unanimous decision, so bankruptcy became inevitable. Cygnus says it expects to emerge from Chapter 11 within 45 days. Under the plan, Cygnus' secured debt will be reduced from $180 million to $60 million. GE Commercial will own the majority of the company. In mid-June, Cygnus laid off about 12% …

Many magazines have been offering all-but-complimentary subs for years because cheap introductory rates attract subscribers who might later renew for more. But more importantly, they have been a way to keep expanding paid circulation to keep advertisers happy. But how about today, with magazine ad pages falling? Some titles are determined to stay cheap, such as Meredith, publisher of Parents, which has one of the lowest subscription prices in the industry. "We look at our audience from a 'lifetime customer' perspective," says a Meredith rep. "If the readers for Parents become Meredith customers at this point of their lives, …

Exhaustively tested recipes have made Cook's Illustrated, the flagship of Christopher Kimball publishing empire, wildly successful despite the recession. The privately held company also includes America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country public television programs as well as a cookbook publishing division. Boston Common Press, which owns Kimball's and his partners publishing activities, is reportedly very profitable. Unlike its rivals, it earns all revenue from readers, not advertisers. Gross annual revenue for print and Web subscriptions is estimated at more than $40 million. The six-issues-a-year Cook's Illustrated is $35.70 a year on the newsstand, $24.95 for an annual print subscription, …

Island Def Jam Music Group and Elle magazine are experimenting with integrating brands into artists' CD booklets. The first effort was created for the Mariah Carey release "Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel" on Sept. 15. It is a 34-page mini-magazine that includes lifestyle ads from Elizabeth Arden, Angel Champagne, Carmen Steffens, Le Métier de Beauté and the Bahamas Board of Tourism. The booklet also contains Mariah-centric editorial, lyrics and other CD booklet elements. Elle contributed the editorial and designed the layout. The booklets were created for 1.5 million CDs in the U.S. and overseas and the material will be …

A fundamentally leaner, meaner advertising and marketing sector will emerge from the recession, say experts. Fueling the trend are new client demands and changing consumer behavior. Client demands include less staffing, a greater focus of teams and rapid-response approaches -- critical in an age "where your brand can be affected by one teenager who puts a message out in a YouTube video," says Richard Pinder, Publicis COO. As far as consumers go, thrift is in vogue and hard choices between wants and needs dominate family dinner table discussions. According to a July Gallup poll, consumers expect that curtailed spending …

Alternative Press, a relatively obscure music magazine, is appearing in Wal-Mart stores across the U.S. this summer. The publisher has partnered with Sony's RED distribution group to produce a one-off title called Summer of Rock, which includes a CD featuring music from 20 bands. The publication is distributed via Wal-Mart. How did they pull it off? RED approached Wal-Mart this year about doing its special summer music guide with editorial produced exclusively by AP. (In the past, several magazines contributed to the RED summer project.) RED took care of production, manufacturing and working with Wal-Mart. The indie mag's job …

Media and property mogul Mortimer Zuckerman is taking money out of real estate to invest it in his New York tabloid Daily News, per an SEC filing. Zuckerman says he will sell 1 million shares in The Boston Properties, reaping some $50 million. Some of that money will go toward new printing presses for the newspaper. A Boston Properties rep says the sale represents only 9% of Zuckerman's total holdings and doesn't indicate that the real estate firm's stock price is topping out. For the Daily News, the new presses are said to be an "interesting" investment …

News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch and GE's Jeffrey Immelt want to end the sniping between their employees -- anchors Bill O'Reilly and Keith Olbermann. The two top execs met at the Microsoft CEO summit in Redmond, Wash., recently to figure out how to defuse tensions between the two channels, according to insiders. At issue is the ongoing conflict between MSNBC's Olbermann, an outspoken liberal, and Fox's O'Reilly, a conservative. Fox News and MSNBC are not really vicious competitors. Despite their cable news rivalry, their parent companies are partners in online TV site Hulu, and both companies produce TV shows …

CBS is taking an "under the radar" approach to selling ad time for its broadcast of Super Bowl XLIV from Miami. Rather than going out to ad buyers and the press with an average price for a 30-second spot, the network's ad-sales staff has instead told buyers it's willing to create customized ad packages around the event, then work together to determine a value. The approach shows a surprising level of flexibility in Super Bowl ad-sales tactics. Not surprisingly, buyers say their clients are looking for drops in price from last year's game, when NBC sold ad spots …