With iTunes and Hulu.com as models, major magazine publishers are getting ready to tackle online publishing. According to news reports, Time, Conde Nast, Hearst, Meredith and others are planning an online newsstand that will provide their properties in various formats and be jointly run.
As with the music and TV industry, the reported consortium is an attempt to use digital media to stem dwindling revenues. Printed periodicals such as magazines and newspapers have been battling sharp drops in circulation, and moving to a venue without the costs of paper production or distribution is, in theory, highly attractive.
Interim CEO
The intent would be to provide a central location for a wide variety of publications, as a newsstand does, and with commonly agreed platforms, file formats, and, assumedly, user interfaces. Between them, the publishing giants have some of the biggest brand names in the magazine business — Time; People; Sports Illustrated; The New Yorker; Vogue; O, The Oprah Magazine; Esquire; Better Homes and Gardens; and many others.
The New York Times reports the target platforms include iPhones, BlackBerrys and the e-book readers from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Sony and others. A Time executive, John Squires, has reportedly been named the interim CEO for the company.
Squires will have a term of six months while the new company looks for a permanent CEO. He has reportedly been the driver behind bringing these usually competitive publishers together. The new company is expected to be announced within a few weeks.
While there are some resemblances to iTunes and Hulu.com, there could be substantial differences in the way the magazines are ported to digital media. Downloadable songs on iTunes are the same essential experience as in CDs, and watching a TV show on Hulu is not unlike watching one on cable, except the watching is usually done on a…