BusinessWeekreports that Hachette Filipacchi is ceasing publication of the print edition of Premiere with the April edition. The magazine's website at www.premiere.com will continue and will be eventually be expanded later this year.
The company, which also publishes Car and Driver, Elle and other magazines, said in a statement late Monday that the April edition of Premiere, which is on newsstands until April 16, will be the last for the U.S. edition. The international editions will continue.
Hachette said that Premiere's Web site would continue and will be revamped later in the year. The company had also shut the print edition of Elle Girl but kept its Web site going, a move that Time Warner Inc.'s Time Inc. unit did with Teen People last year.
Premiere was a monthly magazine but faced competition from weekly rivals such as Time Inc.'s Entertainment Weekly and others. Last year Premiere's paid ad pages declined 25 percent, according to the Publishers Information Bureau.
The magazine website does have a blog from Premiere film review critic Glenn Kenny. It is starting to look like all but the top print publications in each category will be forced to end their print magazines to focus on the Internet.
