Courtesy Images / Open Sky Media
Hearst Media has snapped up Austin Monthly and Austin Home magazines.
San Antonio Express-News owner Hearst Media is continuing its push into the Austin market, having snapped up magazines Austin Monthly and Austin Home from Open Sky Media Inc. over the weekend, the newspaper's publisher, Mark Medici, said in a Saturday LinkedIn post.
Word of the acquisitions comes three months after Hearst finalized its purchase of San Antonio Magazine, another OpenSky publication, for around $150,000 and a month after the Express-News launched its Austin-based online newsletter Austin Daily.
"Austin Monthly is an iconic city magazine, and reinforces our commitment to sustaining but growing local journalism in the fastest growing region in the country," Medici wrote on LinkedIn.
Hearst will roll the two Austin publications into HTA Media, a new Austin-based media organization. Longtime Express-News Audience Managing Editor Randi Stevenson will lead the new company, Medici said.
Officials with Austin-based Open Sky were unavailable for immediate comment Monday morning. It's unclear what will become of Texas Music, the last remaining magazine in the firm's portfolio.
Hearst's expansion moves come as media ownership group Gannett Co. continues to slash away the Austin-American Statesman, the state capital's longtime daily newspaper. As the Statesman comes close to becoming a "ghost newsroom," in the words of Texas Monthly, several non-traditional media organizations, including Axios and City Cast, have expanded into the market.
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