CPA magazine outsourced to St. Joe's contract publishing arm

CPA Canada has outsourced the publishing of its award-winning magazine to Strategic Content Labs, the contract publishing arm of St. Joseph Communications. 

The frequency of the magazine will be cut from 10 per year to six starting in May and it is said that the result will be more like the Harvard Business Review. 

Among the staff let go were editor-in-chief Okey Chigbo, deputy editor Bernadette Kuncevicius and art director Bernadette Gillen. Remaining are: Harriet Bruser, editorial assistant; Margaret Craig Boursin (editor digital editions); and Kevin Pudsey (associate art director), plus Alexandra Garant (manager of advertising sales).  

Australian Geographic acquired by Blue Ant Media

March issue

Blue Ant Media of Toronto has announced the acquisition of Australian Geographic magazine from Bauer Media. The bimonthly is one of Australia's top 10 paid magazines, with more than 40,000 subscribers and a readership of 540,000. 

“Australian Geographic is the most iconic Australian wildlife and nature publication, reaching a highly engaged audience of natural history fans through its multi platform content,” said Michael MacMillan, CEO, Blue Ant Media [in a release.] “The purchase of Australian Geographic reinforces our footprint in the Australian market while providing an impactful vehicle for showcasing the work of our natural history documentaries and series being produced all over the world.”

Blue Ant is a privately held producer, distributor and channel operator, with a catalogue of more than 3200 hours of content, across a number of channels, including Love Nature (International), ZooMoo Networks (International), Smithsonian Channel Canada, BBC Earth (Canada), Blue Ant Entertainment (International), Blue Ant Extreme (International) and HGTV (New Zealand). Blue Ant Media is headquartered in Toronto, with operations in Los Angeles, Singapore, Auckland, Dunedin, London, Washington, Sydney, Beijing and Taipei. The company is best known in Canadian magazine circles for having taken over Cottage Life Media and associated properties in 2012.

Hearst buys Rodale Inc. and its titles, including Men's Health, Prevention and Runner's World

Hearst has bought Rodale Inc. in a deal which is said to be less than $250 million. It's but one of a number of consolidations taking place in the industry.

Rodale publishes Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Prevention, Rodale’s Organic Life, Runner’s World and Bicycling. It also includes Rodale Books and an international division with which Hearst already has a joint venture. 

Critical to the deal was the assumption by New York-based Hearst of $30 million in unfunded pension liability and losses from real estate deals and vendor contracts. The deal may therefore wind up amounting to $100 million or less. 

One source characterised the deal as a “stunning collapse” of Rodale. The collapse is indicative of a broader change in the magazine industry, as smaller publishers, such as Wenner Media, are now closing or selling off titles.

David Carey, president of Hearst Magazines, said

“Maria Rodale has grown her family’s business into a peerless authority that reaches an enormous audience. Hearst and Rodale are already publishing partners around the world, including the U.K., the Netherlands and Japan, and we’ve seen first-hand how the content resonates. We are pleased to add them and all of Rodale’s brands to our vibrant and varied global portfolio, providing readers with dependable information and offering marketers unbeatable scale and a trustworthy environment in the increasingly important health and wellness space.”

Torstar affirms faith in print with takeover of full control of Metro newspaper chain

Torstar Corp., the parent company of the Toronto Star, has purchased virtually full control of Metro, the free weekday newspaper distributed in cities across Canada. Torstar announced the terms of the deal after markets closed Friday. It paid its partner Metro International SA of Sweden $51.5 million for 80% of its 50% share in the Free Daily News Group; Torstar now owns 90% of the business.

The Free Daily News Group publishes Metro in Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and London, Ont. It also publishes in Halifax in a joint venture with Transcontinental Media G.P. The combined daily readership of the chain is more than 1 million.

“We see this as a terrific opportunity to continue to build this growing, national franchise,” said Torstar president and CEO David Holland in an interview with the Star. “For the past decade, it's been a strong medium, attractive to both readers and advertisers. We think that will continue.”

He said the acquisition complements the rest of Torstar's media assets including Star Media Group, Metroland and other digital properties.

Lorenzo DeMarchi, Torstar's chief financial officer, said readership and advertising have increased steadily at Metro papers, and at $51.5 million, is a good investment.

“It's a reasonable price. It reflects the growth trajectory that the business has been on,” DeMarchi said. “Metro is a print medium that has shown strong growth. We continue to believe in print and Metro's a great example of that.”

Most recent NADbank figures for fall 2010 and spring 2011, the "read yesterday" readership among adults in the Greater Toronto area was 966,000 for the Toronto Star and 495,000 for the Toronto edition of Metro.

Shoppers shifts contract publishing of Glow magazine from Rogers to St. Joes

It is a version of the circle game, we suppose. It has been announced that Glow magazine, the beauty, health and lifestyle magazine produced on behalf of Shoppers Drug Mart by Rogers Publishing is now to be contract-published by rival St. Joseph Media. This was reported by Marketing magazine.

Glow, an 8-times-a-year title which has a circulation of 360,000, has been published by Rogers for the past decade. But its predecessors -- Healthwatch and Images magazines -- had been published for Shoppers by Multi-Vision Publishing*, before it was bought out by St. Joseph in 2002. At about that time, Shoppers decided to change suppliers, discontinuing the two magazine strategy in favour of Rogers' proposal for one title whose circulation was closely aligned with the the database of Optimum, the drug chain's loyalty card.  Various versions of Glow were produced, depending on cardholders' purchasing habits. In addition, the magazine is sold on newsstands.

St. Joseph Media was also awarded the publishing contract for Glow‘s Quebec sister publication, Pure. Its circulation is 68,000 and it is issued six times a year.

*It's worth remembering that Multi-Vision, in addition to being a prodigious contract publisher, also published Elm Street, and bought Saturday Night magazine and shift magazine, none of which are with us any longer.

BBC Worldwide sells off 34 magazine titles and all but exits the business

In a complicated deal that has taken many months to come to fruition, BBC Worldwide has sold off its portfolio of 34 magazine titles and is mostly exiting the magazine business. 

The deal with Exponent Private Equity LLP, is for £121m and involves taking over all the non-BBC-branded magazines (such as Radio Times) outright and publishing BBC-branded titles such as Top Gear under a contract publishing deal. There had been interest in the magazine properties from such companies as Bauer and Hearst, but the entanglement of many of the magazines with co-branded television programs seemed to make them shy away.

According to a story in the Guardian

Radio Times, which the BBC has published since 1923, will be among 11 sold outright along with a number of other titles deemed to be "less closely aligned to the BBC" such as Olive and Gardens Illustrated.

BBC programme-branded titles, such as Gardeners' World and BBC Wildlife, will be licensed to Exponent. While BBC Worldwide will not retain ownership of these 18 titles it will keep a "strong continuing editorial interest under licensing agreements".

The third category comprises four titles including Top Gear, Good Food and Lonely Planet which will be retained by BBC Worldwide but published by Exponent under a contract publishing agreement.

The deal also includes BBC's stake in Dovetail, a subscription fulfillment operation run jointly with Dennis Publishing and a distribution front end called Frontline, jointly run with Bauer Media and Haymarket Publishing. (The various interlocking arrangements may be one of the reasons that it took so long for BBC to make the complicated deal.)

Exponent publishes a number of parenting, motorcycling and outdoor magazines and runs the online media jobs service Gorkana; it was the former owner of the Times Educational Supplement. Richard Lenane, Exponent director, said: “Exponent invests exclusively in market-leading businesses which have strong growth potential and great people. We believe that BBC Magazines is such a business.”

At the same time as making its deal with Exponent, BBC Worldwide sold its 50% stake in Worldwide Media, an Indian firm which publishes editions of Hello, Top Gear and Lonely Planet, to the owners of the Times of India. It also is buying the 61% it does not own of Origin, a specialist publisher that publishes a dozen titles such as 220 Triathlon, Blonde Hair, Hair Ideas, Koi and Perfect Wedding. The 100% stake will then be transferred to Exponent.

Most BBC staff and operations will transfer to Exponent.

BBC Worldwide generated profits of £160m on sales of £1.1bn in the year to March.
Related posts:

• BBC to explore selling stake in its magazine business
• BBC may sell off some of its magazines, partner on others

Giant swap, still subject to approval, sees Transcontinental take over former Quebecor World printing plants

Canada's largest printer, Transcontinental Inc. (which is also the country's largest publisher of consumer magazines) just got a whole lot bigger as it has conducted a huge swap with U.S.-based Quad/Graphics for the assets Q/G took over from the troubled former printing giant Worldcolor Press (formerly Quebecor World). Quad/Graphics retained only a Vancouver plant to service its U.S. Pacific Northwest clients.

Under terms of the swap Transcon sold three Mexican printing plants and some other assets to Quad/Graphics and bought 6 Canadian printing plants and a prepress firm. No value was announced for the deal itself but it would be worth tens of millions of dollars in property value alone. Quad/Graphics has said that Transcontinental takes over about US$75 million in pension and post-retirement obligation. The Canadian plants employ 1,500 people and the Mexican operations had 900. Three of the former Quebecor World plants are located in Ontario, two in Quebec, one in Alberta and one in Nova Scotia and the forecasted revenue for all of them was about US$310 million in revenues in 2011while revenues for the Mexican assetswere expected to be C$67 million. Francois Olivier, the CEO of Transcon says in a company release that the transactions will generate at least $40 million in earnings within a year or two of the deal closing. Olivier said that the print markets suffered from overcapacity and the takeover of the plants would allow Transcon to make better use of about $700 million in investments it has made recently.

Quad/Graphics bought the Canadian assets of Worldcolor Press Inc. (previously Quebecor World) in early 2010 for about $1.3 billion and at the time the CEO said the takeover would enhance its leadership position in the printing industry. At least in Canadian terms, that mantle now rests squarely on the shoulders of Transcontinental.  

The deal is subject to approval under the Canadian Competition Act and one of the questions that might be asked is whether approval would have been forthcoming had Transcon done a straight-ahead takeover offer for Worldcolor when it was in trouble and available. Whether this consolidation gives Transcontinental leverage that could significantly reduce competition in the industry, hence driving up print pricing, remains to be seen.

It seems highly likely, however,that there will be significant rationalization of plant, management and staffing. 

Related posts:

• Quad/Graphics shifting magazine printing from Edmonton to Aurora
• Quad/Graphics closure of 5 U.S. plants is fallout from takeover of Worldcolor (nee Quebecor World)
• Giant Quad/Graphics Inc. buys Montreal-based Worldcolor Press
• Worldcolor consolidates printing plants with loss of 150 jobs
• New logo for former Quebecor World magazine printer
• Courts approve Quebecor World reorganization; now the tax man has to say yes
• Donnelley gives up in bid to take over Quebecor World
• Quebecor World board rejects sweetened Donnelly offer 
• Printer vs. printer: R. R. Donnelly makes unsolicited bid for Quebecor World 
• Quebecor World seeks, and gets, bankruptcy protection

Torstar's Star Media Group buys startup digital beauty magazine The Kit

The Kit, a startup digital beauty and wellness magazine created by former St. Joseph Media staff has been purchased by Star Media Group (Toronto Star).

“We searched diligently for the best women’s lifestyle play for our audiences and advertisers,” Edward Greenspon, vice president of business development for Star Media Group and the Toronto Star, said in a release. “We liked what we saw in The Kit and are keen to get going right away in supporting it as a leading beauty authority on all platforms and extending it into the fashion space.”

The Kit, which was launched last fall, produces a content-rich digital magazine, including video, slide shows, and email newsletters.Giorgina Bigioni, president and publisher of The Kit (and former publisher of Fashion magazine) said the acquisition "will allow her team to dramatically accelerate plans and reach substantial new audiences.” There are also plans to add a print edition.

The deal is a letter of intent and still subject to negotiation and closing conditions. Star Media Group, whose holdings include the Toronto Star, Toronto.com, The Grid and joint ownership of Metro free daily newspapers, is a division of Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd., which is a subsidiary of Torstar Corp. It has recently redesigned and relaunched both Toronto.com and The Grid (formerly Eye Weekly).

The Kit has published its 3rd issue (Spring) and relaunched an expanded and improved companion website.  The publication has 30,000 subscribers (it's free to sign up), running well ahead of its launch estimates according to Bigioni. 

The magazine has about 160,000 visits over the first two issues (somewhat less than the 200,000 they'd aimed for), an impressive 2.5 million total page views, 19,000 users of its free app, 1,500 Twitter followers and l 1,900 Facebook fans, according to its media kit.

Hearst assumes partnership share with Transcon in ELLE Canada and ELLE Québec

Pleased to partner with Hearst

The takeover by Hearst Corporation of the international magazine businesses of Lagardère has also necessitated a change of name and relationship with Canada's Transcontinental Media Inc. Hearst acquired a 49% interest in Les Publications Transcontinental-Hachette Inc as part of the overall acquisition. 

The company was a joint venture of Transcontinental Media and Lagardère to publish ELLE Canada and ELLE Québec. The acquisition means a renaming of the company as Les Publications Transcontinental-Hearst Inc., effective immediately, according to a release from Transcon. 

Pierre Marcoux, senior vice president, business and consumer solutions group, Transcontinental Media added, "We are pleased to now be partners with Hearst which is one of the most respected media companies in the world.  This is a company that has the highest possible standards of editorial quality and innovation, and has shown that it has a strong belief in a bright future for the magazine business here in Canada and across the globe."

Commenting on the completion, Duncan Edwards, president and CEO of Hearst Magazines International, said, "We are delighted to have closed the transaction in Canada and we are very pleased to have become partners with Transcontinental Media in what is an outstanding business.  We are looking forward to working with Pierre Marcoux and his management team and we are excited about the future."

Hearst purchase of Lagardère international titles said to be imminent

The betting in U.S. media circles is that this week or next will see the announcement of a deal whereby Hearst Magazines Inc. will buy Lagardère SCA's international magazine business including its U.S. distribution and publishing arm,  Hachette Filipacchi  Media.  It would thereby have control of such major front rack titles (including on Canadian newsstands) as Elle, Elle Decor, Woman’s Day and Elle’s 43 editions around the world. 

A report in the London Sunday Times (paywall in place) says that  the $873 million deal may be announced on Jan. 25, when Lagardere is scheduled to hold an investor day.The report said, without quoting a source, that the French company will retain ownership of its biggest title Elle which Hearst will publish at a cost of more than $13 million a year.(This seems to mean that Lagardère could retain licensing of Elle Canada and Elle Quebec with Transcontinental Media.)

Adweek reports that Hearst, which owns Cosmopolitan and Esquire, would emerge, at least temporarily, with the No. 2 position in market share, surpassing Condé Nast and coming just behind No. 1 Time Inc., per Publishers Information Bureau. However, if Hearst spins off the Lagardère automotive titles such as Car and Driver, it will settle back into third place.

Groupon, just discovered by Canadian publishers, said to be bought by Google

[This post has been updated]Just as magazine publishers in Canada have cottoned onto the joys of couponing, the company that provides the service, Groupon, has beenhas been reported to have been purchased by Google for a reported $2.5 billion.

Recently B. C. Business and This magazine both did one-day subscription offers, apparently very successfully, using the online couponing service's huge databases. Other magazine are following suit.[e.g. Ski Canada just did it today.]

There was a recent article on e-Media Vitals that examined some ways publishers are catching on to e-coupons as a tool for audience building.

Rogers Media buys internet advertising network BV! Media for $25 million

Rogers Media is gaining access to more than 400 online publishers and a potential audience of 15 million unique visitors a month with its purchase of BV! Media, a Quebec-based internet advertising network. According to a story from the Canadian Press, the friendly deal was for $25 million in cash, or about 40 cents a share. 

BV! is publisher of the news and information portal Branchez-Vous! Claude Galipeau, general manager of digital media for Rogers Media, said  the transaction makes Rogers stronger in Quebec.

"BV! Media has an extensive line of ad solutions that we will incorporate into our existing digital media sales offerings," Galipeau said in a release."In addition, the Branchez-Vous! network of sites in Quebec will give us greater reach in the Francophone market. Upon closing, Rogers Digital Media will have an impressive set of content offerings and digital sales solutions, including premium brands, exclusive sales inventory on partner sites, channels targeting key demographics, and performance media."

Patrick Pierra, founder and co-CEO of BV! Media, said the sale provides his company with strong growth potential. as part of a bigger company."After 15 years as a successful standalone business we are eager to become part of one of Canada's largest media companies and to have our team and assets contribute to Rogers' expansion in both digital media and the Quebec market."

Patrick Pierra, President, Content and Co-CEO, Gino Coutu, President, Advertising management and co-CEO, Athanasios Vorias, CFO, Lior Amar, Chief Technology Officer, and Harold E. Sharon director, who together hold approximately 76% stake in BV! Media have signed agreements to tender their shares to  Rogers Media.

Giant Quad/Graphics Inc. buys Montreal-based Worldcolor Press

[This post has been updated] Quad/Graphics Inc, has agreed to buy magazine printer Worldcolor Press Inc. of Canada, which prints magazines such as Time and Cosmopolitan.The sale price is about $1.3 billion. According to a story published on Bloomberg.com, the merged company, which will be publicly traded, will have 30,000 employees and combined sales of $5.1 billion.

Joel Quadracci, Quad/Graphics’s chief executive officer, will lead the new company as chairman, president and CEO, the company said.

“We will enhance our leadership position in the printing industry,” Quadracci said in the statement.

Shareholders of Worldcolor, which is based in Montreal (and until recently was called Quebecor World), will own about 40 percent of the combined company, the statement said. The Quadracci family will control the company through ownership of its Class B shares. Quad/Graphics will distribute $140 million in cash to its shareholders, the company said.

Quad/Graphics has $1.2 billion of financing from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and U.S. Bancorp to fund the acquisition and cash distributions and to refinance borrowings, the company said.

[Update: “I don’t see this as good news for magazine publishers as it will further reduce competition which may lead to higher print prices,” Bradner Smith & Company publication papers vice president Dan Walsh[told Folio: magazine]. “I would also not be surprised to see some Worldcolor plants shut down over the next year as a result of this purchase.”

The board of Worldcolor had turned down a $1.8 billion offer from another printing giant, R. R. Donnelly, last summer.]

Related posts:

• New logo for former Quebecor World magazine printer
• Courts approve Quebecor World reorganization; now the tax man has to say yes
• Donnelley gives up in bid to take over Quebecor World
• Quebecor World board rejects sweetened Donnelly offer 
• Printer vs. printer: R. R. Donnelly makes unsolicited bid for Quebecor World 
• Quebecor World seeks, and gets, bankruptcy protection
  

National Post CEO Godfrey likely to lead buyout of Canwest papers

[This post has been updated.] National Post chief executive officer Paul Godfrey has apparently lined up sufficient private equity backers to make a bid for all, or some, of the CanWest papers when they are put on the market, probably by the end of the year.

According to a story by Andrew Willis in the Globe and Mail Godfrey -- who led a very profitable management buyout of the Sun newspaper chain in 1996 (later sold to Quebecor Inc.) -- is in discussions with private equity funds who want to buy all or part of the national chain, which includes the Ottawa Citizen, The Gazette of Montreal, Calgary Herald and both major Vancouver papers, the Sun and the Province.

[Update: Canwest denies that its papers are for sale.]

It was not clear from the story whether that interest extends to the National Post, whose leadership Godfrey took over in January. But it seems likely.

CanWest's newspapers are expected to formally go up for sale in the coming weeks, as the Winnipeg-based company announces a restructuring that will see creditors who are owed $2.5-billion swap their debt for equity.

As part of this recapitalization, lenders that include Bank of Nova Scotia are expected to end up controlling the newspaper subsidiary, CanWest LP, and selling its assets. The Asper family, heirs to the founder of this media empire, are expected to lose control of CanWest.

Vibe magazine revived under new ownership

Vibe magazine, which recently folded, has been bought by Uptown Media Group in partnership with private equity firm InterMedia Partners and Blackrock Digital, the company which formerly handled digital sales for Vibe.com, according to a story in Folio:. The plan is to relaunch Vibe.com immediately as the "centrepiece of the new venture".

The print edition of Vibe will relaunch with a November/December issue and will publish quarterly in 2010.

Zoomer magazine and media empire grows with takeover of Vision TV

The empire of Moses Znaimer, publisher of Zoomer Magazine and proprietor of Zoomer Media, just got bigger with the announced aquisition of Vision TV, its digital specialty channel ONE: Mind & Spirit and two JoyTV specialty channels in Winnipeg.

Zoomer has agreed to pay $25 million for the television enterprise, including all the shares of Christian Channel Inc. and of Vision TV Digital Inc. The deal involves $14 million in cash and a 10-year, $11 million promissory note. The deal is being financed by the issuance of 176 million new shares of Zoomer at a price of 10 cents a share; Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited has agreed to subscribe to the issue, which represents 28% of the company.

The takeover, expected to close in the spring of 2010, is still subject to CRTC approval.

"VisionTV has been broadcasting for 20 years and we believe that this network as well as the Joytv stations and One: the Body, Mind & Spirit channel will add tremendous value to ZoomerMedia" said Moses Znaimer in a release.

"These acquisitions will enrich Zoomer's media assets to include radio and television broadcasting, as well as video production. In addition to being attractive businesses in their own right, we expect their complementary nature to Zoomer's magazine and on-line/web holdings will further facilitate the expansion of the Zoomer concept, and will assist CARP significantly in expanding its membership base. It also puts me back into TV, where I have a little experience, and a few ideas that should grow shareholder value."

Said Vision TV President and CEO Bill Roberts: "This value transaction is in the best interests of our viewers, our stakeholders and the VisionTV Charity - and at a time of consolidation in the media industry, it represents a bold and affirming commitment to diversity and independent Canadian broadcasting. Our respective brands share complementary audience demographics and a common commitment to high-quality, award-winning Canadian content, and we welcome the opportunity to pursue exciting new opportunities together. We are also pleased that this business arrangement will re-energize the VisionTV Charity, providing the ample resources it needs to re-invent itself for the 21st century.

Zoomer publishes Zoomer Magazine, which is published nine times a year, with paid subscriptions of 180,000 and an estimated 15,000 copies sold on newsstands. It also provides marketing and membership services to CARP, the association for the 45-plus in Canada, with about 350,000 members and publishes websites and electronic newsletters under the brand 50plus.com.

VisionTV launched in September 1988 and is available to over 9 million cable and satellite subscribers aross Canada. It is licensed as Canada's only (possibly the world's only) multi-faith specialty television service. It has 1.6 million viewers each week. The VisionTV viewer demographic trends towards the 45 and older age group. Its associated digital channel One: Mind & Spirit, is 53% owned by Canwest Global, Radio-Nord and Renewal Partners Company, but Vision TV is acknowledged as the managing partner.

Related posts:

• Znaimer and company sinks $1 million into building
• Zoomer magazine reports $402k loss on $1.7 million in revenue
• First, Zoomer magazine; now a show for the Zoomer consumer
• For Zoomer mag editor, it's all relevance, relevance, relevance
• Former Flare colleagues to help Boyd run Zoomer
• Znaimer maintains his claim to have invented term "zoomer"
• CARP to become Zoomer in October
• Znaimer to launch Zoomer, with Suzanne Boyd as editor

Transcon buys Redwood Custom Communications

[This post has been updated] Montreal-based Transcontinental Inc. has acquired Canada's largest custom publisher, Toronto-based Redwood Custom Communications.

François Olivier, president and cIhief executive officer at Transcontinental, says his company's main goal is to aid customers in reaching and retaining their target audiences, and that Redwood is at the frontier between traditional publishing and direct marketing. Since Transcon was in custom publishing already, the deal moves the company into a dominant position virtually overnight. It's not clear what the deal means to the joint venture deal that Transcon made with British custom publishing firm Seven Squared in August 2007 to create Transcontinental Custom Communications.

Transcon is one of Canada's leading printers and the largest consumer magazine publisher. Among Redwood's clients are Aeroplan, Canadian Automobile Association, Home Depot, Mazda, Procter & Gamble, Sears and Sobey's. Redwood's 130 employees will continue to be led by Eric Schneider, Chief Executive Officer, who retains an undisclosed 25% equity stake.The company has offices in Toronto and New York.

"By partnering with Transcontinental, Redwood Custom Communications has the opportunity to grow its relationship marketing business and deliver incremental value to its clients," said Eric Schneider in a release. "Our team is thrilled about the opportunities ahead of us."

[UPDATE: Some excellent follow-up reporting by Marco Ursi at Masthead adds texture to the story, including the fact that essentially the Redwood brand will eventually disappear under the Transcontinental brand and that Transcon, predictably, will gradually take over all of the printing of Redwood custom pubs that has heretofore been done by competitors like Quebecor and St. Joseph.]

Rogers sells Ontario Out of Doors to Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters

Rogers Publishing has sold Ontario Out of Doors magazine to Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters. The magazine has been closely associated with OFAH and the magazine is said to be going to carry on with much the same management team, according to a memorandum to staff from Marc Blondeau, Senior Vice-President, Consumer Publishing.

Originally founded in 1969, OOD was purchased by Maclean Hunter in 1985. The December 2008 issue will be the final one produced by Rogers, Blondeau said.

I would like to stress that this decision was made following careful review of our long-term business strategy. We remain focused on growing our portfolio of brands in a strategic manner. We have absolutely no plans to sell any other properties.

Ontario Out of Doors principal competitor has been Outdoor Canada magazine, published by Transcontinental Media.

U.S. media metric research giants merge; Forrester buys Jupiter

Forrester Research has purchased rival tech and media analysis firm Jupiter Research and its parent company JUPR Holdings fr0m MCG Capital Corporation for $23 million; JupiterResearch has 83 employees and 2007 revenues of approximately $14 million. Forrester says it had $212 million in revenue last year, and has more than 1,000 employees. JupiterResearch will be folded into Forrester’s Marketing & Strategy Client Group, which contributed $46.4 million to Forrester’s revenue in 2007. Release.

Bayard Presse Canada buys out religious partner

Bayard Presse Canada , better known in the magazine field as the publishers of Owl, Chickadee and Chirp, has concluded a long-time partnership with a religious order, buying out the order's share in the religious publishing house Novalis.

Novalis, launched in 1935, has been run ever since as part of Saint Paul University, run by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, a teaching order that at one time founded the University of Ottawa. Novalis publishes liturgical periodicals in both English and French (including Catholic Digest), prayer aids, daily devotionals and missals aimed largely at the Catholic religious public. The unusual partnership saw Saint Paul University responsible for content and Bayard providing administration, production, marketing and sales.

Bayard Presse Canada sells on behalf of over 40 French, U.S., British and Australian Publishers. Among its periodicals in Canada are Owl, Chickadee and Chirp as well as Pomme d'Api Quebec, Les Debrouillards, J'aime Lire Quebec, Good Times and Le Bel Age. (In the latter two, it is a partner with Transcontinental Media.)

The company It is part of Bayard a relatively low-profile yet substantial ($400 million) international publishing operation with 1,500 employees in 41 countries and 110 periodicals. It has been built by concentrating on publishing for Catholics, children and teens and seniors.