TV Guide Publisher Launches New Magazine

[Janice]

TV Guide Publisher Launches New Magazine


(AP) This photo released by TV Guide shows the first
edition of "Inside TV," its new weekly magazine...
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LOS ANGELES (AP) - The publishers of TV Guide have launched a new weekly magazine aimed at young female television viewers. The first edition of "Inside TV" hit newsstands Thursday, featuring a cover photo of "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria.

The full-sized, glossy magazine will be sold primarily at newsstands, competing alongside such celebrity-driven titles as "People" and "US."

It includes a selection of program picks organized around such categories as drama, comedy and reality, rather than the familiar time and network grid featured in TV Guide.

The magazine launch comes at a time when parent company Gemstar-TV Guide is focused on expanding its electronic offerings, including the TV Guide channel and its interactive program guide.

But the company said it saw an opportunity to target younger female TV viewers who have incorporated such programs as HBO's "Sex and the City" into their lifestyle.

"There is a sea change occurring in the way younger women watch television today," said John Loughlin, president of the TV Guide Publishing Group. "TV is social currency and has become an arbiter of what they wear, where they go, how they measure their relationships."

The magazine will cost $1.99 and is edited by Steve LeGrice, a former editor of "In Touch Weekly" and "Star." Loughlin expects the magazine to be a newsstand impulse buy - the opposite of the company's flagship TV Guide, which is sold mainly through subscriptions.