Future Network USA Announces August '05 Launch of Future Snowboarding and Launch of Snowboard Trade News
(January 24, 2005)
The Snowboard Journal is Division's First Acquisition
Brisbane, CA (January 24, 2005)
Future Network USA is proud to announce the August 2005 launch of their new consumer snowboarding magazine Future Snowboarding, the launch of snowboard trade title Snowboard Trade News, and the acquisition of The Snowboard Journal. Future Network USA�s Action Sports Division launched in September 2004 with the explicit mission of becoming the leading publisher in the snowboard space and now has the broadest portfolio of snowboarding titles in the market.
Future Snowboarding will target passionate snowboarders, from the enthusiast who rides every season to the die-hard local who rides every weekday. It will feature in-depth product reviews, riding, resort and lifestyle advice and photography that will make snowboarders want to get out and ride. Written in infamous Future style, Future Snowboarding will deliver key information in an entertaining format and tone. The new title will deliver 150,000 copies of each issue to readers five times a year on a monthly basis from September through January.
Justin Cobb has joined as associate publisher of Future Snowboarding, straight from TransWorld Snowboarding where he held the same title.
The Snowboard Journal was acquired from its founders, former pro snowboarder Jason Ford and former TransWorld Snowboarding editor-in-chief Jon Foster. Under the terms of the agreement, The Snowboard Journal will become part of the San Diego-based Action Sports Division. Ford and Foster will take management positions within the group while maintaining their focus on and editorial direction of the title they founded nearly two years ago. The Snowboard Journal is a quarterly title and its fifth issue is currently on newsstands. The Snowboard Journal targets deeply committed, lifelong snowboard enthusiasts. Its coffee-table format showcases world-class photography and captures the soul and spirit of snowboarding.
Snowboard Trade News, the only trade title devoted exclusively to the snowboard market, will debut next week at the Snowboard Industries America show in Las Vegas. Snowboard Trade News provides shop owners, employees, reps and manufacturers with the critical information they need to grow and stay on top of their business and the market.
Along with publishing the biggest single-platform videogame magazines in the country, Future�s reach with the 18 � 34 year old male demographic will expand as the new Action Sports titles roll out. The company expects cross-marketing opportunities to develop between the Action Sports, Music and Games divisions.
�Future Network USA is committed to the action sports space. We have hired the most experienced and talented staff in the snowboard market,� explains Future Network USA Action Sports publisher Fran Richards. �With Future�s expertise at publishing high quality enthusiast titles, we plan to deliver the industry�s most relevant and indispensable magazines.�
�I�m not sure what Fran�s saying half the time because he�s so revved up,� says Future Network USA president Jonathan Simpson-Bint. �And he does a crap English accent � but I know that readers and advertisers can trust his vision as one of passion and authenticity.�
Future Network USA�s Action Sports division has hired the most experienced editorial and publishing staff in the business. The first editorial hires of Future Network USA�s Action Sports Division represent the cream of the sport�s crop:
. Editorial director Rob Campbell is the former editor of Snowboarder magazine and the ASR Lineup. He has run his own media company for the past three years, serving clients that include Honda, Quiksilver, and Tony Hawk, Inc.
. Editor Colin Whyte, well known for his writing inSnowboarder, Transworld, and Snowboard Canada over the last 12 years, holds an MFA in Creative Non-Fiction. Since 1986, Colin has been the itinerant fruit picker of the snowboard industry, working in shops, fixing boards, assembling demo programs and riding pow. Colin�s irreverent sense of humor, cultural criticism style and eye for detail are a perfect fit for Future Action Sports.
. Group managing editor Robyn Lass, former Editor of SG magazine and long-time action sports freelancer, will work across all titles, offering her insight and experience to grow the group.
Photo editor Dano Pendygrasse brings his unique, born-and-bred-in-the-mountains aesthetic to the table. Dano has spent more days on a board, shooting and riding than many pro riders; his work has been a staple of Transworld Snowboarding and Snowboarder over the last 13 years.
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About The Future Network USA
Future Network USA (www.futurenetworkusa.com), is the country's foremost publisher of cutting-edge gaming, action sports, computing and musician magazines which reach a passionate young, active, affluent male audience. Future Network USA is run by President Jonathan Simpson-Bint and ranks 13th out of the top 20 audited U.S. newsstand publishers in gross newsstand revenue. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, with offices in New York, Los Angeles and San Diego, Future Network USA's publications sell in excess of 2.2 million copies per month. Its market-leading titles include PC Gamer, PSM: 100% Independent PlayStation 2 Magazine, Official Xbox Magazine, Mobile PC, Maximum PC, MacAddict, EZ Tech Guides and musician titles: Future Music (to launch April 2005), Guitar One, Guitar World, Guitar World Acoustic (bi-monthly), Guitar World Bass Guitar (bi-monthly) and Guitar World Legends (bi-monthly).
About The Future Network plc
The Future Network was founded in the UK in 1985. Today, it publishes over 90 special-interest consumer magazines worldwide, is the world�s leading publisher of games magazines and is the fifth largest magazine publisher in the UK. Future employs over 1,000 people in offices in the UK, US, Italy and France. Around 100 international editions of Future�s magazines are also published in 31 other countries across the world. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange (symbol FNET).
