TV Guide is a bi-weekly American magazine that provides television
program listings information as well as television-related news,
celebrity interviews and gossip, film reviews, crossword puzzles, and,
in some issues, horoscopes. The print magazine is owned by NTVB Media,
while its digital properties are controlled by the CBS Interactive
division of ViacomCBS; the TV Guide name and associated editorial
content from the publication are licensed by CBS Interactive for use
on the website and mobile app through an agreement with the magazine's
parent subsidiary TVGM Holdings, Inc.The prototype of what would
become TV Guide magazine was developed by Lee Wagner (1910â€"1993),
who was the circulation director of MacFadden Publications in New York
City in the 1930s â€" and later, by the time of the predecessor
publication's creation, for Cowles Media Company â€" distributing
magazines focusing on movie celebrities.In 1948, he printed New York
City area listings magazine The TeleVision Guide, which was first
released on local newsstands on June 14 of that year. Silent film star
Gloria Swanson, who then starred of the short-lived variety series The
Gloria Swanson Hour, appeared on the cover of the first issue. Wagner
later began publishing regional editions of The TeleVision Guide for
New England and the Baltimoreâ€"Washington area. Five years later, he
sold the editions to Walter Annenberg, who folded it into his
publishing and broadcasting company Triangle Publications, but
remained as a consultant for the magazine until 1963.The national TV
Guide's first issue was released on April 3, 1953, accumulating a
total circulation of 1,560,000 copies that were sold in the ten U.S.
cities where it was distributed. The inaugural cover featured a
photograph of Lucille Ball's newborn son Desi Arnaz, Jr., with a
downscaled inset photo of Ball placed in the top corner under the
issue's headline: "Lucy's $50,000,000 baby". The magazine was
published in digest size, which remained its printed format for 52
years. From its first issue until the July 2â€"8, 1954, issue,
listings within each edition of TV Guide began on Friday and ended on
Thursday; the July 9â€"16, 1954, issue began on a Friday and ended on
the following Friday. Then, beginning with the July 17â€"23, 1954,
issue, the listings in each week's issue changed to start on Saturday
and end on Friday, which remained the listings format for all local
editions until April 2004. The formation of TV Guide as a national
publication resulted from Triangle Publications' purchase of numerous
regional television listing publications such as TV Forecast (which
was circulated in the Chicago area and, upon its first publication on
May 9, 1948, was the first continuously published television listings
magazine), TV Digest (which was distributed in Philadelphia and
Pittsburgh, and was originally distributed under the title, the Local
Televiser, when it was first released on November 7, 1948), and the
New York-based Television Guide (which had its title abbreviated to TV
Guide on March 18, 1950). Each of the cities that had their own local
TV listings magazine folded into TV Guide were among the initial
cities where the magazine conducted its national launch.
program listings information as well as television-related news,
celebrity interviews and gossip, film reviews, crossword puzzles, and,
in some issues, horoscopes. The print magazine is owned by NTVB Media,
while its digital properties are controlled by the CBS Interactive
division of ViacomCBS; the TV Guide name and associated editorial
content from the publication are licensed by CBS Interactive for use
on the website and mobile app through an agreement with the magazine's
parent subsidiary TVGM Holdings, Inc.The prototype of what would
become TV Guide magazine was developed by Lee Wagner (1910â€"1993),
who was the circulation director of MacFadden Publications in New York
City in the 1930s â€" and later, by the time of the predecessor
publication's creation, for Cowles Media Company â€" distributing
magazines focusing on movie celebrities.In 1948, he printed New York
City area listings magazine The TeleVision Guide, which was first
released on local newsstands on June 14 of that year. Silent film star
Gloria Swanson, who then starred of the short-lived variety series The
Gloria Swanson Hour, appeared on the cover of the first issue. Wagner
later began publishing regional editions of The TeleVision Guide for
New England and the Baltimoreâ€"Washington area. Five years later, he
sold the editions to Walter Annenberg, who folded it into his
publishing and broadcasting company Triangle Publications, but
remained as a consultant for the magazine until 1963.The national TV
Guide's first issue was released on April 3, 1953, accumulating a
total circulation of 1,560,000 copies that were sold in the ten U.S.
cities where it was distributed. The inaugural cover featured a
photograph of Lucille Ball's newborn son Desi Arnaz, Jr., with a
downscaled inset photo of Ball placed in the top corner under the
issue's headline: "Lucy's $50,000,000 baby". The magazine was
published in digest size, which remained its printed format for 52
years. From its first issue until the July 2â€"8, 1954, issue,
listings within each edition of TV Guide began on Friday and ended on
Thursday; the July 9â€"16, 1954, issue began on a Friday and ended on
the following Friday. Then, beginning with the July 17â€"23, 1954,
issue, the listings in each week's issue changed to start on Saturday
and end on Friday, which remained the listings format for all local
editions until April 2004. The formation of TV Guide as a national
publication resulted from Triangle Publications' purchase of numerous
regional television listing publications such as TV Forecast (which
was circulated in the Chicago area and, upon its first publication on
May 9, 1948, was the first continuously published television listings
magazine), TV Digest (which was distributed in Philadelphia and
Pittsburgh, and was originally distributed under the title, the Local
Televiser, when it was first released on November 7, 1948), and the
New York-based Television Guide (which had its title abbreviated to TV
Guide on March 18, 1950). Each of the cities that had their own local
TV listings magazine folded into TV Guide were among the initial
cities where the magazine conducted its national launch.
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