It’s hip2b2

Here is a press release from Hinge Inquirer Publications about the indefinite suspension of PC Magazine Philippines. I got this from an email to the contributing writers.

Hinge Inquirer Publications regretfully announces the indefinite suspension of publication of PC Magazine Philippines under our aegis effective February 2007.

Despite being the number one tech magazine in the country in terms of readership, the financial burden of the high monthly licensing fee from Ziff-Davis Media Inc., owner of the title, negates most of the local revenue we generate from advertising. Our company has maintained this difficult setup for the past two years and has tirelessly worked to achieve exceptional sales performance month after month in order to turn a small profit. But the licensing fees and other factors have made continuing PC Magazine financially untenable for HIP.

Additionally, recent major changes with the status of Ziff-Davis itself as a company has made the future of PC Magazine uncertain. Hence the HIP Board of Directors, in consultation with our sales and editorial departments, has decided to suspend publication of PC Magazine indefinitely effective this year.

All existing accounts, previous arrangements, unserviced advertising and ongoing subscriptions will of course still be honored and routed to our other technology and business magazines if possible, or other alternatives can be worked out to fulfill our obligations to our clients and readers.

It has been an honor and a privilege to have produced PC Magazine for the Philippine market these past two years. We have achieved a great deal in providing a useful and productive tech publication that can stand on its own in the local and international market, and we are especially proud to have created a title that is the most widely read in its category for our country.

Hinge Inquirer Publications will continue to produce its other tech and business titles, and with Mobile Philippines, SME Insight and Game Magazine, along with other future efforts, we hope to fill the void that will be left with the suspension of PC Magazine Philippines.

The sad part of it all was that we were the Number #1 technology magazine in the Philippines in terms of readership (maybe not advertising). Too bad the franchise fee was just too high. Oh well … Time to channel my efforts to other things. Maybe more time for blogging?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 20th, 2007 at 3:22 am and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.