Amid abundant evidence that it remains in a struggle for relevance in a fast-changing ad and consumer market,
TV Guide, published by Gemstar-TV Guide, has named a new publisher. Peter
Haeffner, who had previously been eastern sales director of the magazine, also has experience as a onetime ad director of Meredith Corp.'s
Better Homes and Gardens. After years of flirting with
the concept,
TV Guide only last autumn transitioned from digest form to a full-size magazine, hoping to pick up newsstand readers while at the same time ditching its signature feature--detailed
market-by-market program listings. The company also recently suffered the indignity of killing off
Inside TV, a weekly title that survived just seven months. It had been intended to reach
younger, mostly female, demos. In shuttering
Inside TV, the parent company said many of its features would be folded into the flagship weekly. Haeffner replaces Scott Crystal, who was promoted
to president of the TV Guide Publishing Group last October. He in turn had replaced John Laughlin, who left the company to assume a position at Hearst.
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