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Fortune is cutting back Other shorts: Wasserstein family trust hangs on to New York Oct 23, 2009 Time Inc.'s Fortune slashes publishing schedule All the focus over recent months has been on the sale of BusinessWeek and whether the title would survive, but in reality, Fortune and Forbes have lost about the same number of ad pages as their rival this year, and there's no indication when things are going to get better. So perhaps it's no surprise that Fortune is planning some major changes as rumors of even bigger cutbacks at parent company Time Inc. loom. Next year Fortune will cut its publishing schedule from 25 times per year to 18, according to reports, and it will also redesign the magazine and print it on more expensive page stock. Time Inc. also hopes to put more emphasis on the web, where it may actually add some staffers. The magazine's cover shots will turn away from CEO portraits and toward more conceptual illustrations. The changes come after Fortune saw ad pages fall 34.9 percent through the first nine months of the year, according to the Publishers Information Bureau, the steepest decline in the business category as tracked by Media Life. Meanwhile, whispers over future cuts at Time Inc. continue to swirl, though many expect they'll be lower than the 600 jobs chopped around this time last year. Wasserstein family trust hangs on to New York New York is staying in the family. Days after the unexpected death of Bruce Wasserstein, the 61-year-old investment banker who acquired the arts and entertainment magazine six years ago, the family trust that oversees New York has said that it will not seek to sell the publication. Word came in an internal memo sent to New York Media staffers by CEO Anup Bagaria yesterday, which read in part: "The company will continue to be controlled by a Wasserstein family trust that is proud of the work being done by New York magazine and its online properties nymag.com, MenuPages.com, and Grub Street." Rumors had swirled following Wasserstein's death that the trust would unload the magazine, which has become a perennial National Magazine Awards contender but has seen ad pages plunge 31 percent this year, according to PIB. Wasserstein paid $55 million for New York in 2003, outmaneuvering bidders including Harvey Weinstein and Mort Zuckerman. News Corp.: We may charge for Hulu shows Apparently it's not just newspapers that are ducking behind pay walls. Online video sites might be next. Chase Carey, deputy chairman of News Corp., told attendees at a conference in New York this week that Hulu, the video sharing site jointly owned by News Corp.'s Fox, NBC and ABC, may start charging for content less than two years after its much-hyped launch. The site includes episodes of top hits on the networks, as well as archival and cable content. Carey floated a subscription model and one in which some shows will still be available at no charge. But that's not a sure thing; NBC's Marc Graboff has suggested that the site will ramp up the number of in-show commercials instead. Programming notes: A second helping of 'Chef' Bravo is paying its compliments to the chef -- “Top Chef Masters,” that is. The network has ordered a second season of the series, with Kelly Choi as host and Gael Greene, James Oseland and Jay Raynor as judges. The first season of the show averaged 2.2 million total viewers and 1.5 million viewers 18-49. Meanwhile, in other programming, Style Network has ordered 10 episodes of “What I Hate About Me,” a makeover show in which women will work on their 10 least-favorite aspects of their lives. The show, which premieres on Jan. 2 at 9 p.m., will be hosted by “Clean House’s” Lisa Arch. And TNT has picked up the pilot “Rizzoli,” based on the novels by Tess Gerritson. Former “Law & Order” star Angie Harmon will play the title role, a Boston detective who works closely with a medical examiner. The network is still working casting the examiner.
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