TV Guide
Encyclopedia
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows
.
In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles. Some issues have also featured horoscope listings.
, star of her short-lived "Gloria Swanson Hour." Wagner later added regional editions for New England and Baltimore-Washington areas. Five years later, he sold the editions to Walter Annenberg's Triangle Publications, but remained as a consultant until 1963.
with her newborn son Desi Arnaz, Jr.
TV Guide as a national publication resulted from Walter Annenberg
's Triangle Publications' purchase of numerous regional television listing publications such as TV Forecast, TV Digest, Television Guide and TV Guide. The launch as a national publication with local listings in April 1953 became an almost instant success with the magazine becoming the most read and circulated magazine in the country by the 1960s. The initial cost was just 15¢ per copy. In addition to subscriptions, TV Guide was sold from grocery store counters nationwide. Until the 1980s, each issue's features were promoted in a television commercial. Under Triangle Publications, TV Guide continued to grow not only in circulation, but in recognition as the authority on television programming with articles from both staff and contributing writers. Over the decades the shape of the logo has changed to reflect the modernization of the television screen. At first, the logo had various color backgrounds (usually black, white, blue or green) until the familiar red background became a standard in the 1960s with occasional changes to accommodate a special edition.
Under Triangle Publications, TV Guide was first based in a small office in downtown Philadelphia until moving to more spacious national headquarters in Radnor, Pennsylvania
in the late 1950s. The new facility, complete with a large lighted TV Guide logo at the building's entrance, was home to management, editors, production personnel, subscription processors as well as a vast computer system holding data on every show and movie available for listing in the popular weekly publication. Printing of the national color section of TV Guide took place at Triangle's Gravure Division plant adjacent to Triangle's landmark Philadelphia Inquirer Building on North Broad Street in Philadelphia. The color section was then sent to regional printers to be wrapped around the local listing sections. Triangle's Gravure Division was known for performing some of the highest quality printing in the industry with almost always perfect registration.
Triangle Publications in addition to TV Guide owned The Philadelphia Inquirer
, Philadelphia Daily News
, 16 radio and television stations (WFIL AM
-FM
-TV
Philadelphia, PA, WNHC AM
-FM
-TV
New Haven, CT, KFRE AM
-FM
-TV
Fresno, CA, WNBF AM-FM
-TV Binghamton, NY, WFBG AM
-FM
-TV
Altoona, PA and WLYH-TV
Lancaster/Lebanon, PA) The Daily Racing Form, The Morning Telegraph, Seventeen
, and various cable TV interests. It was under Triangle's ownership of WFIL in Philadelphia that Dick Clark and American Bandstand
came to popularity. Triangle Publications sold its Philadelphia newspapers to Knight Newspapers in 1969, its radio and television stations during the early 1970s to Capital Cities Communications
and various other interests retaining only TV Guide, Seventeen
Magazine and the Daily Racing Form. Triangle Publications was sold to News America Corporation
in 1988 for $3 billion, one of the largest media deals of the time.
was hard on TV Guide. Cable channels began to be listed in TV Guide in 1980 or 1981, depending on the edition. Channels were also different, depending on the edition. Each channel was designated by an oblong bullet of three letters; for example, ESN represented ESPN and NIK represented Nickelodeon
. To save channel space, some cable channels (mainly pay channels) had an asterisk by them, which meant that it was only listed in the evening grid (and later the Pay-TV Movie Guide). Channels like Cinemax and Disney initially started only in the grids, but later expanded to the listings as well.
As the years went on, cable channels were added. To help offset this, the issue of May 11–17, 1985 introduced a smaller font with some other cosmetic changes; a show's length was listed after the show's title—not in the description as it was previously. Another listings change took place in 1996; the show's title was no longer listed in all-uppercase, but mixed case as well.
In 2002, TV Guide published six special issues to celebrate their 50th year:
Because most cable systems published their own listing magazine reflecting their channel lineup, and now have a separate guide channel on the remote that opens up to available programming, a printed listing of programming in a separate magazine became less valuable. The sheer amount and diversity of cable TV programming made it hard for TV Guide to provide listings of the extensive array of programming that came directly over the cable system. TV Guide also could not match the ability of the cable box to store personalized listings. TV Guides circulation went from almost 20 million in 1970 to less than three million in 2007.
By 2003, there was also a list of cable channels (also broadcast channels in some editions) that were listed in the grids only. From its inception until 2003, TV Guide offered listings for the entire week, 24 hours a day. Beginning with the June 21, 2003 issue (in just a few select markets), the 5am–5pm Monday–Friday listings were condensed down to four grids: 5am–8am, 8am–11am, 11am–2pm, 2pm–5pm. If programming differed from one weekday to the next, "Various Programs" was listed. This change became permanent in all TV Guide editions beginning with the 2003 Fall Preview issue. Beginning in January 2004, the midnight–5am listings (and also 5am–8am on the Saturday and Sunday listings) did not include any out-of-town broadcast stations, just the edition's home market. Starting in June 2004 in most editions the channel lineup page showing the stations for each local edition was dropped. Starting in July 2004 the overnight listings were taken out entirely, replaced by a grid that ran from 11pm–2am and had the edition's home market broadcast stations, with a handful of cable stations. It also listed a small selection of late-night movies on some channels. The daytime grids also changed from the 5am–5pm listings, to 7am–7pm. In early 2005 more channels were added to the prime-time and late night grids. The magazine also changed format to start the week's issue with Sunday listings, rather than Saturday listings, changing a tradition that started from the magazine's first issue.
On May 18, 2005, TV Guide launched TV Guide Talk
, a weekly podcast
available for free. The podcast was headlined by TV Guide reporter/personality Michael Ausiello
, and was co-hosted by his co-workers, Angel Cohn, Daniel Manu, and Maitland McDonagh. The podcast was discontinued in 2008 with Ausiello's move to Entertainment Weekly
.
TV Guide was purchased from News Corporation in 1999 by United Video Satellite Group, parent company of the Prevue Networks, which itself was later purchased by the maker of the VCR Plus+ device and schedule system, Gemstar-TV Guide International
, partially owned by News Corp.
format to a larger full-size national magazine that will offer more stories and fewer TV listings. All 140 local editions were also eliminated, being replaced by two editions, one for Eastern/Central time zones and one for Pacific/Mountain. The change in format was attributed to the increase in the Internet, cable TV channels (like TV Guide Network), electronic program guide
s and digital video recorders as the sources of choice for viewers' program listings.
The new version of TV Guide went on sale on October 17, 2005, and featured Ty Pennington
from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
on the cover. The listings format, now consisting entirely of grids, also changed to start the week's issue with Monday listings rather than Sunday listings.
In September 2006, TV Guide launched a redesigned website
with expanded original editorial and user-generated content not included in the print magazine.
On December 22, 2006, TV Guide introduced the magazine's first ever two-week edition. The edition, which has Rachael Ray
on the cover, was issued for the week of December 25, 2006 to January 7, 2007. In early 2008, the daytime Monday-Friday and late night grids were eliminated from the listings section, and the television highlights section was compressed into a six-page review of the week, rather than the previous two pages for each night.
With the acquisition of Gemstar-TV Guide by Macrovision
on May 2, 2008, that company, which purchased Gemstar-TV Guide to mostly take advantage of their lucrative and profitable VCR Plus and electronic program guide patent
s, stated they wanted to sell both the magazine and TV Guide Network, along with the company's TVG
horse racing
channel to other parties.
sold the money-losing magazine to equity fund OpenGate Capital for $1. As part of the sale, however, the companion website was retained by Macrovision (who then sold it to One Equity Partners
), with all editorial connections between the magazine and website severed, including the end of Matt Roush's presence on TVGuide.com. The editorial content of the magazine was launched on a new site, TVGuideMagazine.com, which didn't feature TV Guide's listings in any form. However, TVGuidemagazine.com was shut down on June 1, 2010 and TV Guide Magazine and TVGuide.com entered into a deal to restore content from the magazine to the TVGuide.com website, which Lionsgate bought along with the TV Guide Network in January 2009.
In January 2009, the magazine cut several networks from the grid listings, including DIY Network
and MTV
, citing "space concerns"; however, two cuts, those of The CW
and TV Guide Network, were seen as suspicious and arbitrary, as the guide carries several channels which have the same schedule night after night or are low-viewed and could have easily been cut, while several Fox networks continue to be listed due to agreements with the former News Corporation ownership. It is likely that the network's removal from TV Guide listings was related to the "divorce" of the website and network from the magazine.
In early February 2009, the listings for The CW and MTV were readded after much protest to the magazine's email addresses, with the listings for several low-viewed networks removed as a consequence. The other listings were slowly re-added, until TV Guide Network's schedule returned to the listings pages in June 2010 with their logo prominent within the grids as part of the deal with Lionsgate's TV Guide division mentioned above.
In May 2007, Gemstar Media, a subsidiary of Gemstar-TV Guide Inc., renamed the TV Guide Channel to the TV Guide Network, stating that the new name reflects a new direction towards more original content and entertainment features in addition to its traditional listings function.
Today, TV Guide Network runs programs such as the weekly entertainment news magazine, The 411, and red-carpet event coverage (originally hosted by Joan
and Melissa Rivers
). In mid-2007, the mother-daughter duo were unceremoniously dropped by TV Guide in favor of both Lisa Rinna
and Joey Fatone
, whose popularities had been on the rise in the wake of their recent appearances on Dancing With the Stars
.
To further distinguish itself from other television guides, TV Guide re-branded itself as TV GUIDE Magazine. The original name is now capitalized and "Magazine" always follows.
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
.
In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles. Some issues have also featured horoscope listings.
Prototype
Lee Wagner (1910–1993) was circulation director of McFadden Publications in New York in the 1930s—and later for Cowles Media Co.—distributing movie celebrity magazines. In 1948, he printed The TeleVision Guide for the New York area. On the cover was silent film star Gloria SwansonGloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson was an American actress, singer and producer. She was one of the most prominent stars during the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon, especially under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille, made dozens of silents and was nominated for the first Academy Award in the...
, star of her short-lived "Gloria Swanson Hour." Wagner later added regional editions for New England and Baltimore-Washington areas. Five years later, he sold the editions to Walter Annenberg's Triangle Publications, but remained as a consultant until 1963.
Annenberg/Triangle era
The national TV Guides first issue was released on April 3, 1953. The cover featured a photograph of Lucille BallLucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
with her newborn son Desi Arnaz, Jr.
Desi Arnaz, Jr.
Desi Arnaz, Jr. , is an American actor and musician and the son of entertainers Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.-Early life:...
TV Guide as a national publication resulted from Walter Annenberg
Walter Annenberg
Walter Hubert Annenberg was an American publisher, philanthropist, and diplomat.-Early life:Walter Annenberg was born to a Jewish family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on March 13, 1908. He was the son of Sarah and Moses "Moe" Annenberg, who published The Daily Racing Form and purchased The Philadelphia...
's Triangle Publications' purchase of numerous regional television listing publications such as TV Forecast, TV Digest, Television Guide and TV Guide. The launch as a national publication with local listings in April 1953 became an almost instant success with the magazine becoming the most read and circulated magazine in the country by the 1960s. The initial cost was just 15¢ per copy. In addition to subscriptions, TV Guide was sold from grocery store counters nationwide. Until the 1980s, each issue's features were promoted in a television commercial. Under Triangle Publications, TV Guide continued to grow not only in circulation, but in recognition as the authority on television programming with articles from both staff and contributing writers. Over the decades the shape of the logo has changed to reflect the modernization of the television screen. At first, the logo had various color backgrounds (usually black, white, blue or green) until the familiar red background became a standard in the 1960s with occasional changes to accommodate a special edition.
Under Triangle Publications, TV Guide was first based in a small office in downtown Philadelphia until moving to more spacious national headquarters in Radnor, Pennsylvania
Radnor, Pennsylvania
Radnor is a wealthy Main Line township. It is an unincorporated community in Radnor Township of Delaware County and Tredyffrin Township of Chester County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It lies near the communities of Villanova and St...
in the late 1950s. The new facility, complete with a large lighted TV Guide logo at the building's entrance, was home to management, editors, production personnel, subscription processors as well as a vast computer system holding data on every show and movie available for listing in the popular weekly publication. Printing of the national color section of TV Guide took place at Triangle's Gravure Division plant adjacent to Triangle's landmark Philadelphia Inquirer Building on North Broad Street in Philadelphia. The color section was then sent to regional printers to be wrapped around the local listing sections. Triangle's Gravure Division was known for performing some of the highest quality printing in the industry with almost always perfect registration.
Triangle Publications in addition to TV Guide owned The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer is a morning daily newspaper that serves the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area of the United States. The newspaper was founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer and is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the...
, Philadelphia Daily News
Philadelphia Daily News
The Philadelphia Daily News is a tabloid newspaper that serves Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The newspaper is owned by Philadelphia Media Holdings which also owns Philadelphia's other major newspaper The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Daily News began publishing on March 31, 1925, under...
, 16 radio and television stations (WFIL AM
WFIL
WFIL is a radio station and a former television station serving the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its transmitter is located in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania....
-FM
WBEB
WBEB is a radio station broadcasting a Soft Rock/Adult Contemporary format. Licensed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it serves the Greater Philadelphia metropolitan area. It first began broadcasting in 1963 under the call sign WDVR. The station is currently owned by Jerry Lee...
-TV
WPVI-TV
WPVI-TV, channel 6, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. WPVI has its studios located on the border between Philadelphia and Bala Cynwyd, and its transmitter is located in the...
Philadelphia, PA, WNHC AM
WYBC (AM)
WYBC is a radio station operating on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The station is owned by Yale Broadcasting Company, Inc.; however, it is programmed by Sacred Heart University under a time brokerage agreement...
-FM
WPLR
WPLR based out of New Haven, Connecticut, is a rock station owned by Cox Radio....
-TV
WTNH
WTNH is the ABC-affiliated television station for the state of Connecticut that is licensed to New Haven. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 10 from a transmitter in Hamden. Owned by the LIN TV Corporation, the station is sister to MyNetworkTV affiliate WCTX and the two...
New Haven, CT, KFRE AM
KWRU
KWRU is a radio station in Fresno, California. It airs programming from Radio Vida Abundante. Licensed to Fresno, California, USA, the station serves the Merced/Fresno area. The station is currently owned by Multicultural Radio Broadcasting Licensee, LLC.-External links:...
-FM
KSKS
KSKS is a commercial radio station located in Fresno, California, broadcasting on 93.7 FM. KSKS airs a country music format branded as "Kiss Country"....
-TV
KFSN-TV
KFSN-TV, UHF channel 30, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Fresno, California. The station's transmitter is located in Meadow Lakes, California. Its signal covers the Central San Joaquin Valley and the mountain...
Fresno, CA, WNBF AM-FM
WHWK
WHWK, known on-air as "The Hawk", is a radio station licenced to Binghamton, New York with a country music format. Located at 98.1 FM, the station is owned by Cumulus Media.Current staff include Glenn Pitcher, Pam Scott, John Davisonand Rich Birdsall....
-TV Binghamton, NY, WFBG AM
WFBG
WFBG is a news/talk radio station broadcasting in Altoona, Pennsylvania.-External links:*...
-FM
WFGY
WFGY, known as "Froggy 98 FM", is a Froggy branded Country music formatted radio station in Pennsylvania serving the Altoona, Huntingdon, Bedford, and Lewistown, among other communities in central Pennsylvania. It has a signal that reaches as far west as Blairsville, Pennsylvania, as far south as...
-TV
WTAJ-TV
WTAJ-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for the Allegheny area of Pennsylvania that is licensed to Altoona, Pennsylvania. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32. It is owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group...
Altoona, PA and WLYH-TV
WLYH-TV
WLYH-TV is the CW-affiliated television station for South Central Pennsylvania licensed to Lancaster. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 23 from a transmitter on Butler Road in South Londonderry Township's Timber Hills section. The station can also be seen on Comcast...
Lancaster/Lebanon, PA) The Daily Racing Form, The Morning Telegraph, Seventeen
Seventeen (magazine)
Seventeen is an American magazine for teenagers. It was first published in September 1944 by Walter Annenberg's Triangle Publications. News Corporation bought Triangle in 1988, and sold Seventeen to K-III Communications in 1991. Primedia sold the magazine to Hearst in 2003. It is still in the...
, and various cable TV interests. It was under Triangle's ownership of WFIL in Philadelphia that Dick Clark and American Bandstand
American Bandstand
American Bandstand is an American music-performance show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989 and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer...
came to popularity. Triangle Publications sold its Philadelphia newspapers to Knight Newspapers in 1969, its radio and television stations during the early 1970s to Capital Cities Communications
Capital Cities Communications
Capital Cities redirects here. For the article about the seat of a government, see Capital .Capital Cities Communications was an American media company best known for its surprise purchase of the much larger American Broadcasting Company in 1985...
and various other interests retaining only TV Guide, Seventeen
Seventeen (magazine)
Seventeen is an American magazine for teenagers. It was first published in September 1944 by Walter Annenberg's Triangle Publications. News Corporation bought Triangle in 1988, and sold Seventeen to K-III Communications in 1991. Primedia sold the magazine to Hearst in 2003. It is still in the...
Magazine and the Daily Racing Form. Triangle Publications was sold to News America Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
in 1988 for $3 billion, one of the largest media deals of the time.
News Corporation era
The advent of cable TVCable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
was hard on TV Guide. Cable channels began to be listed in TV Guide in 1980 or 1981, depending on the edition. Channels were also different, depending on the edition. Each channel was designated by an oblong bullet of three letters; for example, ESN represented ESPN and NIK represented Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
. To save channel space, some cable channels (mainly pay channels) had an asterisk by them, which meant that it was only listed in the evening grid (and later the Pay-TV Movie Guide). Channels like Cinemax and Disney initially started only in the grids, but later expanded to the listings as well.
As the years went on, cable channels were added. To help offset this, the issue of May 11–17, 1985 introduced a smaller font with some other cosmetic changes; a show's length was listed after the show's title—not in the description as it was previously. Another listings change took place in 1996; the show's title was no longer listed in all-uppercase, but mixed case as well.
In 2002, TV Guide published six special issues to celebrate their 50th year:
- TV We'll Always Remember (April 6–12): Our Favorite Stars Share Fifty Years of Memories, Moments and Magic
- Greatest Shows of All Time (May 4–10): The Ultimate List of the 50 Best TV Series. (Just Try to Guess What's No. 1!)
- Our 50 Greatest Covers of All Time (June 15–21): Fabulous Photos of Your Favorite Shows and Stars Plus: Amazing Behind-the-Scenes Stories
- 50 Worst Shows of All Time (July 20–26): Not Just Bad! Really Awful - And We Love Them That Way!
- 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time (August 3–9): Funny! Clever! Drawn to perfection! They're the tops in toons!
- 50 Sexiest Stars of All Time (September 28–October 4): Charisma, Curves, Confidence, Charm! Could We Be Having Any More Fun?
Because most cable systems published their own listing magazine reflecting their channel lineup, and now have a separate guide channel on the remote that opens up to available programming, a printed listing of programming in a separate magazine became less valuable. The sheer amount and diversity of cable TV programming made it hard for TV Guide to provide listings of the extensive array of programming that came directly over the cable system. TV Guide also could not match the ability of the cable box to store personalized listings. TV Guides circulation went from almost 20 million in 1970 to less than three million in 2007.
By 2003, there was also a list of cable channels (also broadcast channels in some editions) that were listed in the grids only. From its inception until 2003, TV Guide offered listings for the entire week, 24 hours a day. Beginning with the June 21, 2003 issue (in just a few select markets), the 5am–5pm Monday–Friday listings were condensed down to four grids: 5am–8am, 8am–11am, 11am–2pm, 2pm–5pm. If programming differed from one weekday to the next, "Various Programs" was listed. This change became permanent in all TV Guide editions beginning with the 2003 Fall Preview issue. Beginning in January 2004, the midnight–5am listings (and also 5am–8am on the Saturday and Sunday listings) did not include any out-of-town broadcast stations, just the edition's home market. Starting in June 2004 in most editions the channel lineup page showing the stations for each local edition was dropped. Starting in July 2004 the overnight listings were taken out entirely, replaced by a grid that ran from 11pm–2am and had the edition's home market broadcast stations, with a handful of cable stations. It also listed a small selection of late-night movies on some channels. The daytime grids also changed from the 5am–5pm listings, to 7am–7pm. In early 2005 more channels were added to the prime-time and late night grids. The magazine also changed format to start the week's issue with Sunday listings, rather than Saturday listings, changing a tradition that started from the magazine's first issue.
On May 18, 2005, TV Guide launched TV Guide Talk
TV Guide Talk
TV Guide Talk was a weekly podcast released by the American entertainment industry publication TV Guide. First released on May 18, 2005, each episode featured commentary from TV Guide staff on the week's entertainment news stories, television programs, and film releases, as well as occasional...
, a weekly podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
available for free. The podcast was headlined by TV Guide reporter/personality Michael Ausiello
Michael Ausiello
Michael Ausiello is an American television industry journalist and actor. He was a Senior Writer at TV Guide and its companion website, TVGuide.com. On May 28, 2008, Ausiello left TV Guide for Entertainment Weekly and posted his first blog for Entertainment Weekly on July 2, 2008...
, and was co-hosted by his co-workers, Angel Cohn, Daniel Manu, and Maitland McDonagh. The podcast was discontinued in 2008 with Ausiello's move to Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
.
TV Guide was purchased from News Corporation in 1999 by United Video Satellite Group, parent company of the Prevue Networks, which itself was later purchased by the maker of the VCR Plus+ device and schedule system, Gemstar-TV Guide International
Gemstar-TV Guide International
Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc. was a media company that licensed interactive program guide technology to multichannel operators, such as cable and satellite television providers, and consumer electronics manufacturers, video recorder scheduling code under brands such as VCR Plus, published TV...
, partially owned by News Corp.
Gemstar era
On July 26, 2005, Gemstar-TV Guide announced that TV Guide would change in format from its digest sizeDigest size
Digest size is a magazine size, smaller than a conventional or "journal size" magazine but larger than a standard paperback book, approximately 5½ x 8¼ inches, but can also be 5⅜ x 8⅜ inches and 5½ x 7½ inches. These sizes have evolved from the printing press operation end...
format to a larger full-size national magazine that will offer more stories and fewer TV listings. All 140 local editions were also eliminated, being replaced by two editions, one for Eastern/Central time zones and one for Pacific/Mountain. The change in format was attributed to the increase in the Internet, cable TV channels (like TV Guide Network), electronic program guide
Electronic program guide
Electronic program guides and interactive program guides provide users of television, radio, and other media applications with continuously updated menus displaying broadcast programming or scheduling information for current and upcoming programming...
s and digital video recorders as the sources of choice for viewers' program listings.
The new version of TV Guide went on sale on October 17, 2005, and featured Ty Pennington
Ty Pennington
Tygert Bruton "Ty" Pennington is an American television host, model, philanthropist and carpenter. He is most notable for being the host of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition which currently airs on ABC in the US and Ty's Great British Adventure, which airs on UKTV home in the UK and TV LAND...
from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is a reality television series providing home renovations for less fortunate families and community schools etc...
on the cover. The listings format, now consisting entirely of grids, also changed to start the week's issue with Monday listings rather than Sunday listings.
In September 2006, TV Guide launched a redesigned website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
with expanded original editorial and user-generated content not included in the print magazine.
On December 22, 2006, TV Guide introduced the magazine's first ever two-week edition. The edition, which has Rachael Ray
Rachael Ray
Rachael Domenica Ray is an American television personality, businesswoman, celebrity chef and author. She hosts the syndicated talk and lifestyle program Rachael Ray and three Food Network series, 30 Minute Meals, Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels and $40 a Day...
on the cover, was issued for the week of December 25, 2006 to January 7, 2007. In early 2008, the daytime Monday-Friday and late night grids were eliminated from the listings section, and the television highlights section was compressed into a six-page review of the week, rather than the previous two pages for each night.
With the acquisition of Gemstar-TV Guide by Macrovision
Macrovision
Rovi Corporation is a globally operating, US-based company that provides guidance technology, entertainment data, copy protection, industry standard networking and media management technology for digital entertainment devices and services...
on May 2, 2008, that company, which purchased Gemstar-TV Guide to mostly take advantage of their lucrative and profitable VCR Plus and electronic program guide patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s, stated they wanted to sell both the magazine and TV Guide Network, along with the company's TVG
TVG Network
TVG Network is an American specialty channel dedicated to horse racing. The company broadcasts from Los Angeles, California and is available in the United States on Dish Network and DirecTV as well as select cable companies...
horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
channel to other parties.
OpenGate Capital era
On October 13, 2008, MacrovisionMacrovision
Rovi Corporation is a globally operating, US-based company that provides guidance technology, entertainment data, copy protection, industry standard networking and media management technology for digital entertainment devices and services...
sold the money-losing magazine to equity fund OpenGate Capital for $1. As part of the sale, however, the companion website was retained by Macrovision (who then sold it to One Equity Partners
One Equity Partners
One Equity Partners is a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in middle-market companies across a range of industries....
), with all editorial connections between the magazine and website severed, including the end of Matt Roush's presence on TVGuide.com. The editorial content of the magazine was launched on a new site, TVGuideMagazine.com, which didn't feature TV Guide's listings in any form. However, TVGuidemagazine.com was shut down on June 1, 2010 and TV Guide Magazine and TVGuide.com entered into a deal to restore content from the magazine to the TVGuide.com website, which Lionsgate bought along with the TV Guide Network in January 2009.
In January 2009, the magazine cut several networks from the grid listings, including DIY Network
DIY Network
DIY Network is a channel owned by Scripps Networks Interactive that focuses on do it yourself projects at home.Television stations air local versions with local hosts with segments produced by the network. Branded DIY Network programming is also broadcast in Japan and the Philippines...
and MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, citing "space concerns"; however, two cuts, those of The CW
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
and TV Guide Network, were seen as suspicious and arbitrary, as the guide carries several channels which have the same schedule night after night or are low-viewed and could have easily been cut, while several Fox networks continue to be listed due to agreements with the former News Corporation ownership. It is likely that the network's removal from TV Guide listings was related to the "divorce" of the website and network from the magazine.
In early February 2009, the listings for The CW and MTV were readded after much protest to the magazine's email addresses, with the listings for several low-viewed networks removed as a consequence. The other listings were slowly re-added, until TV Guide Network's schedule returned to the listings pages in June 2010 with their logo prominent within the grids as part of the deal with Lionsgate's TV Guide division mentioned above.
U.S. TV
In 1998, the TV Guide brand and magazine was acquired by United Video Satellite Group, parent company of the Prevue Channel (now TV Guide Network). Like its predecessor, the original TV Guide Channel scrolled TV listings on the bottom portion of the screen. Until around 2002, the programs on the TV Guide Channel generally only lasted from 30 seconds to a minute, and thus usually appeared once to twice per hour. For instance, a show might appear at 12:25 and again at 1:55. However, over the early 2000s, the channel's focus shifted to full-length programs featuring celebrity gossip and movie talk.In May 2007, Gemstar Media, a subsidiary of Gemstar-TV Guide Inc., renamed the TV Guide Channel to the TV Guide Network, stating that the new name reflects a new direction towards more original content and entertainment features in addition to its traditional listings function.
Today, TV Guide Network runs programs such as the weekly entertainment news magazine, The 411, and red-carpet event coverage (originally hosted by Joan
Joan Rivers
Joan Rivers is an American comedian, television personality and actress. She is known for her brash manner; her loud, raspy voice with a heavy New York accent; and her numerous cosmetic surgeries...
and Melissa Rivers
Melissa Rivers
Melissa Joan Rivers is an American television host, producer and the daughter of Joan Rivers.-Early life:Rivers was born Melissa Warburg Rosenberg in Manhattan on January 20, 1968; the only child of Joan Rivers and Edgar Rosenberg...
). In mid-2007, the mother-daughter duo were unceremoniously dropped by TV Guide in favor of both Lisa Rinna
Lisa Rinna
Lisa Deanna Rinna is an American television host and actress. She is known for her roles as Billie Reed on Days of our Lives, Taylor McBride on Melrose Place, and most recently as the host of SoapNet's Soap Talk.-Acting:...
and Joey Fatone
Joey Fatone
Joseph Anthony "Joey" Fatone, Jr. is an American singer, dancer, actor and television personality. He is best known as a member of the boyband, 'N Sync, in which he sang baritone. In 2007, he came in second place on the ABC reality show Dancing with the Stars...
, whose popularities had been on the rise in the wake of their recent appearances on Dancing With the Stars
Dancing with the Stars (US TV series)
Dancing with the Stars is a reality show airing on ABC in the United States, and CTV in Canada in 2011. The show is the American version of the British BBC television series Strictly Come Dancing...
.
To further distinguish itself from other television guides, TV Guide re-branded itself as TV GUIDE Magazine. The original name is now capitalized and "Magazine" always follows.
Other usage of the TV Guide name
- The term "TV guide" has partly become a genericized trademarkGenericized trademarkA genericized trademark is a trademark or brand name that has become the colloquial or generic description for, or synonymous with, a general class of product or service, rather than as an indicator of source or affiliation as intended by the trademark's holder...
to describe other TV listings appearing on the web and in newspapers. Read/Write Web published "Your Guide to Online TV Guides: 10 Services Compared." Techcrunch in 2006 offered "Overview: The End of Paper TV Guides." - TV Guides is also the name of an interactive video and sound installation produced in 1995 with assistance from the Canada Council and shown at SIGGRAPH 1999. National TV guides are also published in other countries, but none of these are believed to be affiliated with the North American publication.
- In Australia during the 1970s a version of TV Guide was published under license by Southdown Press. That version merged with competitor publication TV WeekTV WeekTV Week is a weekly television magazine in Australia, first published as a Melbourne-only publication in December 1957 , and bearing a strong affiliation to television station GTV.The publication is still publishing weekly...
in 1980. TV Week has a very similar logo to the TV Guide logo. - New Zealand has a digest-sized paper called TV Guide, not associated with the United States or Canadian publications. It has the largest circulation of any national magazine, and is published by Fairfax Media.
- Mexico offers a digest-sized publication called TV Guía, unrelated with the US publication. It is published by Editorial TelevisaTelevisaTelevisa is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate, the largest mass media company in Latin America and in the Spanish-speaking world. It is a major international entertainment business, with much of its programming airing in the United States on Univision, with which it has an exclusive contract...
. - In Italy, a digest-size Guida TV is published by Mondadori since September 1976.
See also
- List of TV Guide covers
- List of TV Guide editions
- TV Guide CanadaTV Guide (Canada)TV Guide was a Canadian version, and later spin-off, of the American weekly magazine of the same name. It was originally published by McMurray Publishing from 1953 to 1976, and after its split from the US parent, became the property of Transcontinental Media since 1977...
- TV Guide Network
- TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All TimeTV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All TimeTV Guides 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time is TV Guides list of the 50 most entertaining and influential television series in American pop culture...