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Just got this email from Damian Butt, MD of Imagine

Hi Rob

Just saw your blog (great name by the way).

To clear up the latest news on Imagine Publishing, we have acquired 24 titles in Bournemouth, which is the entire Highbury Entertainment portfolio. We haven’t bought the company, that’s gone into receivership, but we have bought the titles and the right to publish them. The titles include all the computing titles you mentioned, and also the videogames ones, but of course not Hotdog or Front, which are based in London.

We are now trying to create as many new jobs for the existing employees as we can

Thanks

Damian Butt

Managing Director

So that’s that mystery solved. Without Hotdog and Front in the mix, that’ll leave Imagine far more money to invest in the titles it’s just bought, which clears up that worry.

It’s good to know that Imagine are doing their best to save as many jobs as possible: if you recall, Highbury employees in Bournemouth voted almost unanimously for NUJ recognition recently, they were treated so badly. My hopes are that Imagine proves a better employer for them than Highbury. Since many are being re-interviewed for their jobs, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for them.

Two more mags have picked up the Imagine-Highbury story since my coverage yesterday: Next Generation and Gamasutra. It looks like Imagine have only bought five computing titles, including iCreate, Play Magazine, GamesTM, Advanced Photoshop and Digital Photographer. These are all pretty good complements to Imagine’s existing portfolio, but there is considerable overlap on some titles: iCreate doesn’t really compete with Imagine’s Mac Creative, for example, but Advanced Photoshop and Photoshop Creative are very much going for the same readers. It remains to be seen how many of the new titles will be dropped in favour of Imagine’s exisiting titles (or vice versa).

As for the remaining part of Highbury’s portfolio, that remains a mystery. Although the PA reported that the special interest titles had gone to Brush Colour, I can’t find even the slightest reference to Brush Colour anywhere on the Net and my copy of the Writer’s Handbook doesn’t list them. So the possibilities are: they’re very new (maybe even set up specifically for the deal); they’re very low profile – which doesn’t bode well for this group of mags which could do with a boost; PA got the name wrong, which isn’t like them; or Highbury’s been telling porkies – which is very like them. We’ll have to see what further details emerge on Monday.

But of course, five computing titles plus Highbury’s special interest magazines don’t add up to the full Highbury portfolio. Just on the computing side, there’s PDA Essentials, Website Maker, Practical Web Projects and Web Designer, to name but a few: you can get the full list at the Highbury Entertainment site. However, various news stories, including a piece in the Irish Independent, say that Imagine has bought the entire Highbury Entertainment division outright. Since that includes Hotdog, I think there’s been some confusion as to how big the division is.

Kleinwort Capital’s just invested £7 million in Imagine. That might be enough to launch the company into new markets, if they also bought Hotdog et al, but it would leave them stretched. But Imagine are really the old Paragon, the original owners of iCreate et al who were doing really well until they were acquired by Highbury. Their focus has been gaming and computing titles. Equally, analysts were arguing that all of Highbury’s titles would go for £5-8 million. So, to have acquired the entire Highbury Entertainment division would have taken the bulk of Kleinwort’s investment, leaving Imagine with little for consolidation. That makes me think the acquisition is limited to just the titles mentioned.

So that leaves the rest of the Highbury Entertainment titles, Front and a variety of other mags. I suspect quite a few of the mags aren’t going to find a new home, simply because they’re too close to existing titles. But that still leaves a few rich pickings for wily buyers: expect to hear a few more deals next week, with Remnant in the mix.

As expected, Imagine has leapt in and bought iCreate and various other computing titles from Highbury. The special interest titles have gone to Brush Colour. No info on whether Front and Hotdog have stayed with Highbury or whether they’re making their way over to Imagine as we speak, but if they haven’t, I suspect they could be pounced upon by Remnant Media any moment now, if they haven’t been already.

Phew. Close escape for the Highbury crowd there! Good luck to you all, guys. Hope you like your new homes.

Most UK journalists wonder what the fuss is about, but the US media industry is rife with people being fired for ‘plagiarising’ other reporters’ work – ie quoting it without attribution. Plagiarism is obviously a Bad Thing, but David Simon, a former reporter now best known as creator of Homicide: Life On the Street and The Wire, argues that publishers are going too far.