Wikipedia

TI Media

(Redirected fromIPC Media)

TI Media Ltd.(formerlyInternational Publishing Company,IPC Magazines Ltd,IPC MediaandTime Inc. UK) was a consumermagazineand digital publisher in theUnited Kingdom,with a portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year. Most of its titles now belong toFuture plc.[1]

TI Media Ltd.
Formerly
  • International Publishing Company (1963–1968)
  • IPC Magazines Ltd (1968–1998)
  • IPC Media (1998–2014)
  • Time Inc. UK (2014–2018)
Company typeSubsidiary
Industry
  • Consumer marketing
  • Content and brand licensing
  • Entertainment
  • Magazine publishing
  • News
Founded1963;61 years ago(1963)
Defunct2020(2020)
FateAcquired byFuture plc
SuccessorFuture plc
Headquarters
London
,
United Kingdom

History

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Origins

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The British magazine publishing industry in the mid-1950s was dominated by a handful of companies, principally theAssociated Newspapers(founded byLord Harmsworthin 1890),Odhams Press Ltd,Newnes/Pearson,and theHulton Press,which fought each other for market share in a highly competitive marketplace.

Fleetway

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In 1958Cecil Harmsworth King,chairman of the newspaper group, The Daily Mirror Newspapers Limited which included theDaily Mirrorand theSunday Pictorial(now theSunday Mirror), together with provincial chain West of England Newspapers, made an offer forAmalgamated Press.The offer was accepted, and in January 1959 he was appointed its chairman.

Within a few months he changed its name toFleetway Publications, Ltd.after the name of its headquarters, Fleetway House in London's Farringdon Street.[2]

Shortly thereafter,Odhams Pressabsorbed both George Newnes and the Hulton Press. King saw an opportunity in this to rationalise the overcrowded women's magazine market, in which Fleetway and Newnes were the major competitors, and made a bid for Odhams on behalf of Fleetway that was too attractive to ignore. Fleetway took over Odhams in the month of March 1961.[3]

International Publishing Company

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In consequence, King controlled publishing interests which included two national daily and two national Sunday newspapers (the newspaper interests being informally taggedThe Mirror Group), along with almost one hundred consumer magazines, more than two hundred trade and technical periodicals, and interests in book publishing. This included the combined business interests of Fleetway, Odhams, and Newnes.

All of the companies involved had been acquired without any significant change in management, save for the appointment of Mirror Group directors as chairmen. In 1963 all the companies were combined by the creation of a parent (or "holding" ) company called theInternational Publishing Company(known informally asIPC). All of the existing companies would continue to exist, but as IPC subsidiaries.[4]

IPC then set up a management development department in 1965, to rationalise its holdings, so that its various subsidiaries would no longer be in competition with each other for the same markets. This led to a reorganisation of the Group, in 1968, into six divisions:

  • IPC Newspapers – includingThe PeopleandThe Sun(soon sold), as well as theDaily MirrorandSunday Mirror
  • IPC Magazines – consumer magazines and comics
  • IPC Trade and Technical – specialist magazines (later known asIPC Business Press Ltd.)
  • IPC Books – all book publishing (headed byPaul Hamlyn,whose own company had been acquired by IPC).
  • IPC Printing – all non-newspaper printing operations (headed by Arnold Quick, whose own company had also been acquired by IPC).
  • IPC New Products – launching pad for products that used new technology (headed by Alistair McIntosh).

All the divisions were headed by chairmen who originated in Mirror Group, except for Hamlyn, Quick and McIntosh.

IPC Magazines

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The turmoil at IPC in 1969 led to major consolidations in the joint comics publishing divisions, IPC Magazines Ltd., which was under the responsibility of Jack Legrand, formerly the Managing Editor of Fleetway's juvenile publications.[5]Odhams'Power Comicsline of titles were cancelled, as wasHulton Press's long-running adventure comicEagle(merging with Fleetway'sLionfrom 2 May 1969). The humour comicGiggle,aimed at the slightly younger market dominated by Fleetway'sBuster,was also dropped, being merged intoBusterin the spring of 1969.[6]Buster,like Odhams'Smash!,also now became a publication of IPC Magazines Ltd. (IPC Magazines also took over another UK publisher,City Magazines,around this time.)

Reed International takeover

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In May 1968, a boardroom coup had replaced Cecil King[7]with his deputy chairman,Hugh Cudlipp,a former newspaper editor.[8]Cudlipp had no interest in management, and was uneasy both with his new role and with IPC's diversification into computerised publication and other new technology. In 1969, Cudlipp proposed to former Mirror Group directorDon Ryder— who was then chairman of the Reed Group, in which IPC had a 30% shareholding — to mount areverse takeoverof IPC by Reed. IPC-Mirror Group was thus itself taken over in 1970, by the paper-making companyAlbert E Reed,which then renamed itselfReed International.[9]In 1974, part of the publishing interests of Reed International were separated intoIPC Magazines Ltd(comprising the magazine and comics holdings) andMirror Group Newspapers(comprising the newspaper holdings). The latter was sold to Pergamon Holdings Ltd, a private company owned byRobert Maxwell,in 1984.[10]

In 1988, IPC acquiredFamily Circlefrom theInternational Thomson Organization.[11]In 1989, IPC acquiredTVTimes.[12]In the early 1990s IPC launchedLoaded,which began a wave of "lad's mags".

In 1992, following a merger with Dutch science publisherElsevier NV,Reed International underwent a further name change, becoming Reed Elsevier (nowRELX Group).

Sale of Fleetway

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Main article:Fleetway

In 1987, part of thecomicsholdings of IPC Magazines Ltd (comprising those comics and characters created after 1 January 1970, plus 26 specified characters fromBuster,which was then still being published) were placed in a separate company,Fleetway Publications,which was sold to Pergamon Holdings.[4][13]

In 1991,Egmont UKpurchased Fleetway from Pergamon, merging it with their own comics publishing operation, London Editions, to formFleetway Editions.The latter was absorbed into the main Egmont brand by 2000, having sold off the continuing titles (such as2000 AD), and continued with only reprint and licensed titles (e.g.Sonic The Comic).

IPC had retained the other comics characters and titles, i.e. those created before 1970 (except the 26 characters fromBuster), includingSexton Blake,The Steel Claw,andBattler Britton.[4]One character,Dan Dare,was sold separately and is currently owned by the Dan Dare Corporation. In 2016 and 2018, Egmont sold its remaining library of IPC/Fleetway toRebellion Developments,who had previously acquired2000 ADin 2000.[14][15][16]

Time Inc. takeover

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In 1998, IPC Magazines Ltd was subject to amanagement buyoutfinanced byCinven,aventure capitalgroup, and the company was renamed IPC Media. Cinven then sold the company toTime Inc.,then the magazine publishing subsidiary ofTime Warner(nowWarner Bros. Discovery), in 2001.[17]In January 2009, Evelyn Webster became the company's chief executive, replacing Sylvia Auton who had run it since 2001

IPC Media formally became Time Inc. UK in September 2014, creating a single Time Inc. brand in both the US and UK.[18]

In April 2012, IPC Media won an award for Best Production Team of the Year at theProfessional Publishers AssociationProduction and Environment Awards 2012.[19]

2018 sale to Epiris

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On 26 February 2018,Meredith Corporation,who had completed its purchase of Time Inc. almost a month earlier, announced it was selling Time Inc. UK to a fund associated with British private equity firmEpiris.[20]The transaction closed on 19 March of that year.[21]In June 2018, the company was renamed TI Media.[22]In September 2018, TI Media sold its library of pre-1970 IPC Comics titles to Rebellion Developments.[16]In 2019, TI Media sold its music magazines to BandLab Technologies.[23]

2020 acquisition by Future

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TI Media was acquired byFuture plcon 21 April 2020 following shareholder and Competition and Markets Authority approval.[1]Future subsequently divestedAmateur Photographer,Trusted Reviews,andWorld Soccer[24]and absorbed the rest of TI Media into Future Publishing.

Publishing divisions

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TI Media divisions up until Future plc acquisition including:[25]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ab"Proposed Acquisition of TI Media for £140 million".otp.investis.com.30 October 2019.Retrieved31 October2019.
  2. ^"Fleetway – A History".Dan Dare.Archived fromthe originalon 18 August 2010.Retrieved15 August2010.
  3. ^Holland, Steve (2006)."Look and Learn A History of the Classic Children's Magazine"(PDF).Look and Learn.Archived(PDF)from the original on 25 June 2016.Retrieved9 December2018.
  4. ^abcBirch, Paul (14 December 2008)."Speaking Frankly..."Speech Balloon.Birmingham Mail. Archived fromthe originalon 20 July 2011.
  5. ^Coates, Alan and David. "Smash!"British Comic World#3 (A. & D. Coates, June 1984), p. 17.
  6. ^"Buster,"British Comics website (October 29, 2018).
  7. ^Adam Curtis (2011).Every Day is Like Sunday.
  8. ^Boyd, Wesley (6 November 2004)."An Irishman's Diary".The Irish Times.
  9. ^Reed Elsevier profileArchived27 June 2005 at theWayback Machineon ketupa.net
  10. ^Trinity Mirror Group HistoryArchived14 September 2008 at theWayback Machineon the Trinity Mirror Group website
  11. ^Norton, Frances E."IPC Magazines Limited".International Directory of Company Histories.Retrieved15 May2018– via Encyclopedia.com.
  12. ^Devitt, Maureen."Scottish Television profit 21% brighter".Herald Scotland.Archivedfrom the original on 5 September 2014.Retrieved23 August2014.
  13. ^History of IPC MediaArchived8 March 2007 at theWayback Machineon the IPC Media website
  14. ^Bunge, Nicole."REBELLION ACQUIRES FLEETWAY AND IPC YOUTH GROUP ARCHIVES".ICv2.Archivedfrom the original on 4 November 2016.Retrieved4 November2016.
  15. ^Johnston, Rich."Rebellion Buys Fleetway Archive – Roy of the Rovers, Oink, Tammy, Battle, Whizzer And Chips And More".Bleeding Cool.Archivedfrom the original on 31 October 2016.Retrieved4 November2016.
  16. ^abMcMillan, Graeme."'2000 AD' Publisher Acquires TI Media Comic Archive ".The Hollywood Reporter.Retrieved8 January2019.
  17. ^Time Inc to acquire IPC from CinvenArchived19 February 2005 at theWayback MachinefromTime Warnerwebsite
  18. ^"Time Inc. Rebrands IPC Media Time Inc. UK".Archivedfrom the original on 5 September 2014.Retrieved4 September2014.
  19. ^"Emagine from Rhapsody helps IPC Inspire secure PPA Award".
  20. ^"Meredith Corporation Reaches Agreement To Sell Time Inc. UK To Epiris".Archivedfrom the original on 16 March 2018.Retrieved16 March2018.
  21. ^"Meredith Corporation Finalizes Sale Of Time Inc. UK To Epiris".Archivedfrom the original on 26 March 2018.Retrieved26 March2018.
  22. ^McCarthy, John (24 May 2018)."Time Inc UK unveils rebrand to Ti Media".The Drum.Archivedfrom the original on 9 December 2018.Retrieved17 June2018.
  23. ^"TI Media sells music titles NME and Uncut to music platform BandLab".Retrieved15 July2019.
  24. ^Mayhew, Freddy (20 April 2020)."Future completes £140m takeover of TI Media as coronavirus hits both businesses".Press Gazette.Retrieved25 March2021.
  25. ^"Brands".TI Media. Archived fromthe originalon 15 October 2018.Retrieved15 October2018.

Further reading

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