Ian Birch

TV Guide has laid off its top editor and other senior staff members just before the sale of the magazine's parent company is completed. Editor in chief Ian Birch was among those fired after shareholders of Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. approved the sale to Macrovision Corp.

TV Guide has laid off its top editor and other senior staff members just before the sale of the magazine's parent company is completed. Editor in chief Ian Birch was among those fired after shareholders of Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. approved the sale to Macrovision Corp.

Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. named Ian Birch editor in chief of TV Guide, the top-selling U.S. weekly magazine. He will add more feature stories and timelier articles in a bid to reverse a decline in newsstand sales, Gemstar said. Birch, who will start Oct. 18, was editorial director for new products at the lifestyle unit of British publisher Emap, Gemstar-TV Guide said. He succeeds Michael Lafavore, who resigned in May after 15 months at TV Guide.

Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. named Ian Birch editor in chief of TV Guide, the top-selling U.S. weekly magazine. He will add more feature stories and timelier articles in a bid to reverse a decline in newsstand sales, Gemstar said. Birch, who will start Oct. 18, was editorial director for new products at the lifestyle unit of British publisher Emap, Gemstar-TV Guide said. He succeeds Michael Lafavore, who resigned in May after 15 months at TV Guide.

Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc., the publisher of TV Guide, said Tuesday that its third-quarter loss widened to $98.3 million as it wrote down the value of the magazine's intangible assets. The net loss increased to 23 cents a share from $18.1 million, or 4 cents, the Los Angeles-based company said. Revenue rose 6% to $175.1 million from $165.1 million. Gemstar recorded an expense of $131.6 million to write down the value of TV Guide assets.

Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc., the publisher of TV Guide magazine, said Wednesday that it earned $1.64 million in the fourth quarter as it cut costs and sales rose. Net income was break-even on a per-share basis. A year earlier, the company posted a net loss of $491.4 million, or $1.18 a share. Sales increased 5.8% to $186.6 million from $176.3 million.

Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc., the publisher of TV Guide magazine, said Wednesday that it would introduce a weekly magazine focusing on television stars. Inside TV, aimed at young women, will carry news on television celebrities, style tips and program information, editor Steve LeGrice said. Inside TV will begin newsstand sales in the second quarter. Reaching a circulation of 1 million within a year or so "would be nice," LeGrice said.

Like a fading Hollywood star, TV Guide, the venerable pocket-sized weekly listing of television schedules that has graced the coffee tables of millions of American living rooms for more than half a century, is getting an extreme makeover.

The elevator floats upward, carrying the young dauphin of Conde Nast to the 14th floor. A too-tanned woman cosseted in Chanel enters on a lower floor and upon engaging those silent blue eyes gushes an invitation to lunch. Soon? she swoons. Soon, he replies graciously, continuing his ascent. A modification of Ross Perot's great sucking sound seems to follow James Truman everywhere these days.