BUSINESS NEWS

Magazine Publishing
Oprah, again: O, The Oprah Magazine, the phenomenally successful and egocentric magazine enterprise between Harpo Productions Inc. and Hearst Magazines, continues its meteoric growth. Not yet one full year in operation, the magazine finished 2000 with an average monthly circulation of 2.16 million.

Last month the 11-month-old magazine continued to assert itself against its primary competition, the so-called Seven Sisters--Better Homes & Gardens, Good Housekeeping, Women's Day, Family Circle, Ladies' Home Journal, Redbook and McCall's. O surpassed McCall's in the total number of advertising pages (84 to 64) and is closing in on Ladies' Home Journal, with 90 pages last month, according to the Publishers Information Bureau.

In keeping with the recent personality-driven fixation, McCall's, after a 125-year publishing history, will change its name to Rosie's, starting with the May issue.

ALWAYSi, a leading online entertainment company, invites filmmakers to submit work for their 3rd annual Always Independent Film Festival (AIFF2001), which will take place online from August 20th through September 14th at www.alwaysi.com. 60 films will be screened to a worldwide audience and a panel of industry judges using the latest streaming video and audio technology. The films will range from feature-length drama and feature-length comedy to short drama, short comedy, animation and documentary films. Submissions are free and the deadline is July 20, 2001. Entry forms and official rules are available online at www.alwaysi.com.

Sol Media Networks, Inc. launched the Internet property HotMusica.com, a bilingual music entertainment community oriented website which provides artists and record labels the online tools for promotion of their music into Latin and World markets. The Internet based portal provides artists with the tools to promote themselves and their music directly to their fans and recruit new fans.