The (Sort Of) End Of The Advocate

After a week of internet rumors and quasi-denials, Here Media CEO Paul Colichman has confirmed that The Advocate will now be shipped only in combination with sister publication Out Magazine, ending after 40+ years the stand-alone status of the nation's most highly regarded LGBT news source. From Colichman's letter published at Advocate.com yesterday:

The recent closures of Gourmet, Portfolio, Genre, and other magazines have shown the weaknesses of the print publication model. The rising costs of paper, printing, and postage have become a major problem. Therefore, we plan to greatly reduce these costs by jointly marketing The Advocate and Out magazines. We will fulfill Advocate subscriptions via joint delivery with Out. Advocate subscribers will continue to receive their monthly magazine along with a copy of Out at no extra charge. This move will also allow us to continue to offer Out at affordable subscription prices, either as a stand-alone title or with the choice to receive The Advocate as well. The strategy preserves our ability to deliver the same high-quality print magazines while allocating additional resources to editorial content.

Here Media recently acquired Gay.com and PlanetOut.com, the final two properties of PlanetOut, the now defunct company that formerly published Out and Advocate.