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Friday, August 22, 2003 Media Cynic | Forum | Advertising | Classifieds | Jobs Publishing Industry Soundbytes Launches and Redesigns | Miscellaneous People · Primedia Inc., a targeted media company, has announced two senior leadership appointments for its Consumer Media and Magazine Group (CMMG.) David P. Kirchhoff has been named senior vice president and Chief Financial Officer and Kevin Neary has been appointed senior vice president of finance. Mr. Kirchhoff replaces former CMMG CFO Linda Jenkins, who will retire after seventeen years with the company. Mr. Kirchhoff will report to David Ferm, President and CEO of Primedia's Consumer Magazine and Media Group. Mr. Neary will report to Mr. Kirchhoff. Mr. Kirchhoff joins Primedia after working for Weightwatchers.com, Inc where he served as senior vice president of strategy and business development since 2000, before assuming the additional responsibilities of CFO in January 2003. Kevin Neary has spent the past twelve years in various leadership positions at Primedia. Most recently, Neary served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Primedia's Television Group, which includes Channel One, Films for the Humanities and Sciences, and Primedia Digital Video where he was responsible for financial functions and strategic planning. Prior to that, Mr. Neary was the director of acquisition analysis, overseeing Primedia's financial areas of due diligence. Before joining Primedia, Mr. Neary was an audit manager at Ernst & Young. · Primedia Inc, a targeted media company, announced that Steven Rousseau, 42, has been promoted to Group Publisher of Primedia's consumer automotive titles: Motor Trend, Automobile Magazine and Truck Trend. Rousseau was formerly Regional Vice President and Managing Director for Advertising Sales, Detroit Region, for Motor Trend and Automobile Magazine. He will be responsible for managing the sales teams of the publications, events, websites, and related properties in the Consumer Automotive Group, as well as working with circulation to expand distribution and reach. · MediaBay, Inc., a spoken audio content, announced that Ronald D. Celmer will become Chief Executive Officer of MediaBay, Inc., effective immediately. From 1997 to 2002 Mr. Celmer was a General Partner in Constellation Ventures and a Bear Stearns Managing Director. Mr. Celmer is replacing Hakan Lindskog who resigned to pursue other business interests. · Erik Torkells was named Editor of Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel magazine, Newsweek Budget Travel, Inc. President and COO Harold Shain announced today. Torkells comes to Budget Travel from Fortune magazine, where for the past four years he's held positions as a writer and senior editor in charge of the magazine's lifestyle section. Prior to that he spent four years at Travel + Leisure as senior editor. · Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. has named Thomas C. Siekman to its Board of Directors. Mr. Siekman, formerly Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Compaq Computer Corporation, brings more than 30 years of corporate and legal experience, including expertise in intellectual property, information technology, e-commerce and corporate governance. He succeeds Naomi O. Seligman, who has stepped down from the board. Mr. Siekman most recently served "Of Counsel" to Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, one of the world's leading law firms. Prior to joining Skadden, Arps, Mr. Siekman was Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Compaq Computer Corporation, retiring from that position upon the successful completion of Compaq's merger with Hewlett-Packard. · Carolyn Bekkedahl, Executive Vice-President/Publishing Director for the Active Lifestyle Group of magazines at American Media, Inc., has named Alan Stiles to the position of publisher of Men's Fitness. The Active Lifestyle Group consists of Shape, Men's Fitness, Fit Pregnancy, Natural Health and Muscle & Fitness Hers. Men's Fitness re-launches with its November issue, backed by a $5 million promotional campaign. · Automotive News Editor Edward Lapham is moving to a new senior post in which he will manage the newspaper's editorial page and other major columns of opinion and analysis. Lapham also will become a regular columnist. Projects Editor David Sedgwick will become editor on Sept. 1. He will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the newspaper's 40 editors and reporters worldwide. Lapham, 55, has been with Automotive News for 26 years and has led the newsroom since 1993. · Peter Sikowitz, Editor-In-Chief of American Media's Men's Fitness magazine, announced the appointment of Tony Romando as the magazine's Executive Editor. As the second highest-ranking editor at the magazine, Mr. Romando will bring in new writers, generate story ideas, assign features and special sections, oversee much of the editorial staff and help define the magazine's style and tone. Mr. Romando most recently had been an assistant managing editor of Rolling Stone. Prior to that he was Deputy Editor of FHM, which he helped launch in the U.S., and Jane magazine, where he served as a Senior Editor. · Marvel Enterprises, Inc. announced that Timothy E. Rothwell, will be joining the Company as the President of Marvel's Worldwide Consumer Products Group. The announcement was made by Marvel CEO Allen Lipson. Rothwell brings to Marvel more than 20 years of consumer products and licensing experience including the last seven as Senior Vice President at Universal Studios Consumer Products Group. In his new capacity, Rothwell will oversee Marvel's core licensing and merchandising division, the Company's principal source of profit and cash flow. Digital Publishing · Publications International, Ltd. (PIL) has announced the debut of Story Reader, a portable electronic storybook reader for kids aged three to eight that operates simply by turning book pages. As children turn the pages of each Story Reader book, their most popular children's stories and licensed characters come to life. A narrator reads the book to them as each page is turned, while Story Reader adds sound effects and music to accompany the story. The lightweight, portable design features a hinged clamshell-style unit with carrying handle. A 24-page, four-color book based on Disney's The Lion King is included with Story Reader. Content Deals · Amazon.com, Inc. has announced an extension of its ecommerce agreement with Target Corporation. This amended contract extends the original five-year agreement to August 2008. Under the agreement, Amazon.com provides an ecommerce solution of technology services, order fulfillment and customer service for the Target Store at Amazon.com and Target's online properties, which include Target.com, MarshallFields.com, and Mervyns.com. · Pulitzer Newspapers, Inc. (PNI), a subsidiary of Pulitzer Inc. and the owner of Southwestern Oregon Publishing Co., announced the purchase of the assets of Western World, a 91-year-old weekly newspaper, from Western World Enterprises of Bandon, Ore. Southwestern Oregon Publishing currently publishes The World, a daily newspaper published in Coos Bay. Western World, with a paid weekly circulation of 2,700, will continue to function as a separate publication with its own content, news mission and identity. Western World will retain staffing and news/business offices in Bandon and will be printed on The World's presses in Coos Bay. The transaction includes an annual visitor guide, a telephone directory, and a free daily news and advertising flier called Coffee Break. · Cygnus Business Media, a business-to-business media company, announced it has acquired Asphalt Contractor magazine from Illinois-based Mercor Media. The publication reaches 10,000 "on-road" commercial and industrial asphalt contractors. Cygnus currently publishes Pavement magazine which serves 20,000 "off-road" residential and light commercial asphalt contractors. The acquisition also includes asphalt.com which provides industry, association and State DOT links with information on asphalt construction, mixing, maintenance, compaction and more. Launches and Redesigns · ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen has launched CertifiedSportsJunkie.com, a 24 hour site dedicated to "all those sports junkies who revel in anything and everything that has to do with competition." The site also features "The Making of ESPN," a week-by-week recounting how he got ESPN off the ground. The site offers visitors a way to become Certified Sports Junkies and to obtain memorabilia and merchandise. · TheFeature.com, a mobile Internet site, celebrates its third birthday Tuesday, August 19, by relaunching with a new design and new content. One of the biggest changes to the site is the introduction of new comment and discussion features, where users can comment on any of the content posted on the site and strike up conversations among TheFeature's community of the industry's top leaders, thinkers, developers, observers and commentators. The new version of TheFeature will also feature weblogs from its top contributors, allowing them to share their thoughts on the latest happenings in the industry on an immediate and continual basis. Miscellaneous · Atomic Dog Publishing announced that it recently closed on the first $1 million of a $4 million Series C round of financing. The company publishes hybrid media textbooks for college courses and is in its fourth year of operations. The company announced plans to expand its sales force to include direct field representation. Atomic Dog's New Breed Textbooks, a hybrid combination of online and paperback textbooks, are in use at close to 1000 colleges and universities. · iVillage Inc., a women's media company, announced that the company's securities have transferred from The Nasdaq SmallCap Market back to The Nasdaq National Market, effective August 18, 2003. The Company's common stock continues to trade under its current ticker symbol: IVIL. 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