Dec 21 2008
TV Guide Sold For One Dollar
Macrovision has sold the print magazine TV Guide to OpenGate Capitol for one dollar. The TV Guide Channel is also for sale. It is an odd and unheard of price for an entire magazine but considering they lost 20 millions dollars last year it is understandable. OpenGate plans to invest money in the company and believes they can make it profitable in the long run. It is my opinion they should improve the magazine if they are going to stay in production. Many channels are not listed in the magazine. For instance they only list one HBO channel. Anyway that was what they were listing the last time I bought a TV Guide, which was quite a while ago. If you buy a TV Guide while at the grocery store you will pay $2.99. Most people who have cable or satellite have a free channel guide on the TV. Next month all the broadcast are going to sent out digital. Could even more people will have a guide on the TV?
Rumor has it that the magazine is dropping the CW network from its listing. Some other channels may be dropped also. Myspace is buzzing with comments from angry Supernatural fans who feel this will hurt their favorite show.
As I said it has been a while since I bought a TV Guide. I did not like the larger size. It was much easier to hold the smaller size magazine. They took out the daytime listings. They put all the listings into grids and they focus too much of the magazine on boring celebrities. To buy one was a waste of money to me. If fact if they were giving them away for free, I would pass.
In my opinion OpenGate has made a bad decision to buy the magazine. I feel the magazine will become a giant sucking hole taking money while not making a profit. I wonder how much they will invest before they go bankrupt. You have to give them credit for being brave at least. Good luck to OpenGate. They are going to need it.
