Variety parent to operate Hollywood Reporter

Variety parent company Penske Media Corp. has set a deal with MRC to operate Billboard, Vibe and the Hollywood Reporter under a newly formed joint venture.

A Variety story states, “PMC will lead daily operations of an expanded entertainment and music brand portfolio under the PMRC banner that will bring two Hollywood trade institutions under the same roof for the first time. Billboard, Vibe and the Reporter will join PMC’s Variety, Rolling Stone and Music Business Worldwide.

“The second joint venture calls for MRC to use its content production assets — which include Dick Clark Productions — to develop new content and business opportunities drawn from stories and other intellectual property culled from across PMRC brands.

“PMC and MRC will continue to operate independently outside the joint ventures. The deal was announced early Wednesday by PMC chief executive Jay Penske and MRC co-CEOs Asif Satchu and Modi Wiczyk. Financial terms were not disclosed.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.