HGTV to Launch Magazine with Hearst

HGTV said it partnering with Hearst Magazine to test a new magazine based on the cable channel, with the first issue appearing in the fall.

HGTVMagazine will focus on lifestyle themes and feature the network's on-air talent offering tips, tricks and expertise in areas including real estate, decorating, home renovation, gardening, entertaining and food.

The first issues will arrive at newsstands in October. A second test issue is planned for January 2012. Based on the test issues, Hearst and HGTV will decide if consumer interest merits a full-scale launching in 2012.

HGTV parent Scripps Networks Interactive and Hearst already work together on Food NetworkMagazine.

"We're encouraged by the enormously positive response Hearst and our parent company, Scripps Networks, have received with Food NetworkMagazine," Jim Samples, president of HGTV, said in a statement. "We expect that HGTV's collaboration with Hearst in the form of a lifestyle publication will resonate with our millions of viewers, as well as with new consumers who are passionate about their homes and the lives they live in them."

Sara Peterson, formerly editor of Coastal Living, was named editor in chief of HGTV Magazine.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.