Sporting News Flirts with U.K. Digital Rights Co. While Paring Staff

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The American City Business Journals Inc. ("ACBJ")-owned Sporting News is teaming up with U.K. digital rights company, Perform, on a near-$6 million venture based in New York, Reuters wire service reported today.

Meanwhile, The Sporting News, a 127-year-old brand that in its print magazine incarnation was known as the "Bible of Baseball" before it expanded its coverage to other sports in the 1960s, is slashing its budget, reportedly trimming a dozen editorial slots, according to Thebiglead.com Web site.  Among the prominent sports journalists axed were former New York Times reporter Clifton Brown, soccer writer Brian Straus and one-time Boston Globe sportswriter Lisa Olson.

According to Reuters, Perform is kicking in $1.4 million to ACBJ's $4.6 million initial investment in their joint venture. Perform Sporting News Limited ("PSNL") will own 65 percent of PSNL, and ACBJ will have a  35 percent stake in the venture, which Perform may acquire for $65 million up to 2017, Reuters reported.

Perform acquires online rights to sporting events and distributes video clips and live content for a price to newspaper Web sites and other groups, including bookmakers. 

Magazines Running Out of Ammo

The Sporting News photo of Jay Hughes (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Advertising pages in the consumer magazine sector plunged 8.2 percent in the First Quarter of 2012, compared to First Quarter results last year, according to Publishers' Information Bureau (PIB) statistics cited in Folio (www.Foliomag.com).


Sporting News (a "TUOL" staff fave during their formative years) suffered an 80.1 percent drop-off in ad pages. Overall, the "women's magazine" category performed badly in the First Quarter, PIB numbers reflect, as titles such as O! The Oprah Magazine, Ladies Home Journal and Better Homes & Gardens all endured fewer ad pages. Marie Claire was a shining exception, boasting a 10 percent increase in ad pages.

The numbers weren't much better for news magazine not named Bloomberg, as The Economist slipped 4.8 percent in ad pages over the first three months of 2012, while Time's ad pages sank 21 percent. Automotive and food products were advertising categories that severely cut back on magazine advertising, as only toiletries & cosmetics and apparel & accessories stepped up a periodical presence during the First Quarter of 2012.