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TV Guide history
TV Guide company history timeline
The first magazine titled TV Guide was issued April 3, 1953.
To help keep viewers informed of what was on at what time, TV Guide was introduced in April 1953.
In April 1953, when it first launched nationally, the weekly circulation of TV Guide’s was about 1.5 million.
However, things began to change with the magazine's first "Fall Preview" issue in September 1953.
In September of 1953, the magazine released its first Fall Preview edition and circulation increased steadily from then on.
The TV Guide logo has gone through a significant amount of chances since its introduction in 1953.
In 1953, Walter Annenberg bought the series of publications and incorporated them into his Triangle Publications.
The original 1953 cover of Desi remains the most expensive, valued at $3000.
United Cable was started by Gene Schneider, who had pioneered the industry in 1953 when he helped his brother design and build the country's first cable television system in Casper, Wyoming.
Founded in 1953 by publishing magnate Walter Annenberg, TV Guide magazine had established itself over the years as an icon of American pop culture.
Early versions of the magazine started and ended the viewing week on a Friday. by 1954, endings began on Saturday and ended on Friday.
The December 10th, 1955 cover featured a portrait of Lucy that Desi Arnaz had hung in his Hollywood office.
By the fall of 1962, with the launch of Lucille Ball’s new sitcom, “The Lucy Show,” TV Guide put her on the cover of its September 29th issue in a comedic jumping pose with the tagline, “Lucy Clowns Again.” The first few paragraphs of that cover story read as follows:
In April 1963, for the 10th anniversary issue of TV Guide, Lucille Ball was the featured cover personality, as the magazine asked its readers if they ….subject.
1965: United Video is founded by Gene Schneider as a division of United Cable Television Corp.
For its March 1st, 1969 cover, TV Guide ran a color photo of Lucy with her growing children, Desi and Lucie.
1969: Roy Bliss joins United Cable and is placed in charge of building the United Video division.
Tulsa was wired for cable by 1973, but Schneider had also formed a second division of the company—later United Video—to build a larger microwave-based television distribution network.
TV Guide’s July 6th, 1974 edition – featuring a Richard Amsel cover illustration of Lucy – also announced with a cover tagline, “End of An Era: Lucy Bows Out After 23 Years,” as Lucy aired her final Here’s Lucy sitcom episode on March 18th, 1974.
By 1974, TV Guide became the first magazine ever to sell 1 billion copies in a year.
In 1975, HBO began sending its signal via satellite transmission.
1976: Bliss, backed by Lawrence Flinn, buys out United Video from United Cable.
Other programmers shortly followed suit, including Turner Broadcasting, which began satellite transmission in 1977.
By 1979, the company had begun to recoup its investment, building revenues to $2 million per year.
TV Guide began a slow roll out of cable guides in 1980 and by the next year cable channels were listed in every addition but even then things got tricky.
By August of 1982, the magazine began expanding its coverage of cable programming with “CablePay Section” and “Cable and Pay-TV Movie Guide.”
Yet, 12 years later, Lucy tried a comeback and TV Guide once again put her on the cover of the October 4th, 1986 edition, this time with Andy Griffith, announcing “Two Old Favorites” were returning to series TV – Lucy with a new sitcom, Life With Lucy, and Griffith with the Matlock detective series.
But HBO began scrambling its signal in 1986, and soon other satellite-based networks followed suit.
By 1993, the company's revenues had more than doubled, to $114 million.
The United Video group added another service, Prevue Interactive, in 1993.
In 1993, satellite transmitters implemented a new scrambling technology that made it more difficult to pirate satellite transmissions.
Superstar's growth helped boost the company's 1994 revenues to $196 million.
In 1994, United Video purchased a 10 percent stake in SSDS, Inc., a Colorado-based systems integrator whose clients included First Data Corp., Sun Microsystems, and the White House.
United Video's revenues continued to grow strongly, reaching $263 million with net earnings of more than $23 million in 1995.
In March of 1996, TV Guide launched iGuide, a web portal.
A report in the Wall Street Journal stated that the magazine's September issue had 102.4 ad pages, the most it had sold since 1996, and that for the first time in six consecutive years ad revenue inched up rather than declined.
1997: Flinn steps down as chairman and CEO of UVSG.
1998: UVSG acquires TV Guide, and the new company becomes TV Guide, Inc.
By 1999, however, circulation of TV Guide had dropped to 10 million, and a company named United Video Satellite Group acquired TV Guide from News Corp. in a merger deal forming a new company, named TV Guide, Inc.
In 2000, TV Guide, Inc. had sales of $1,150 million, and a one-year employee growth of 18.2 percent (to 2,700), reflecting the company's fast-growth and dominance in the fledgling interactive program guide (IPG) industry.
Acquisition by Gemstar in 2000
According to the Publisher Information Bureau/CMR, the number of ad pages sold by the publication had decreased 11 percent in 2002.
Yuen was forced out in 2002, and changes at the magazine began.
With an overall budget of between $20 million and $30 million, it far surpassed the $250,000 the publication had budgeted in 2002 for advertising.
"TV Guide Launches New Design." Oakland (CA) Tribune, September 9, 2003.
By 2003 the magazine's circulation had dropped to about nine million.
When TV Guide began its "On the Inside" marketing campaign in 2003, it had two target audiences: media buyers and consumers.
The 2003 "On the Inside" campaign was TV Guide's first consumer marketing effort in more than 10 years.
With a 50-year history of covering television, TV Guide in 2004 began using its authority on television shows to release favorite programming on DVD. TV Guide -branded DVDs began to be sold that year by Genius Products, Inc.
The first six months of 2004 saw Us Weekly's newsstand sales climb 47.3 percent, and its ad pages increased 25.2 percent from the same period the previous year.
Further indication of the campaign's success was its win of a 2004 Bronze EFFIE from the New York American Marketing Association.
In September of 2006, TV Guide launched an updated website with expanded editorial and user-generated content not included in the print edition.
Became Our First Cover Star,” TVGuide.com, April 3, 2013.
In 2014, it underwent a major redesign.
In 2015, it was sold once again to NTVB Media.
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TV Guide competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entertainment Weekly | 1990 | $12.0M | 172 | - |
| A+E Networks | 1984 | $890.0M | 1,047 | 23 |
| Scripps Networks Interactive | 2008 | $3.6B | 3,600 | 122 |
| E! News | 1985 | $234.8M | 3,000 | 8 |
| AMC Networks | 1980 | $2.4B | 2,197 | 59 |
| Fox Broadcasting Company | 1985 | $5.7B | 12,500 | - |
| VH1 | 1985 | $16.0M | 10,001 | - |
| News Media | 1975 | $140.0M | 570 | - |
| Advertising Specialty Institute | 1950 | $15.0M | 200 | 30 |
| Los Angeles Times | 1881 | $780.0M | 2,052 | 15 |
TV Guide history FAQs
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of TV Guide, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about TV Guide. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at TV Guide. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by TV Guide. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of TV Guide and its employees or that of Zippia.
TV Guide may also be known as or be related to TV Guide, TV Guide Inc, TV Guide, Inc. and Tv Guide.