Time Magazine subpoenaed on circulation practices

Televisionpoint.com Team
The U.S. Attorney's Office in New York asked for information from Time Inc. on so-called sponsored sales programs, such as courtesy copies of magazines given to doctors' offices or promotional copies for other uses, a source familiar with the matter said to Reuters.

A spokeswoman for Time Inc., which publishes 155 magazines including Time, Sports Illustrated and People, said the company was subpoenaed for information on its circulation practices but could not specify the scope or the direction of the federal prosecutor's investigation. She added that Time Inc., a unit of Time Warner Inc., was cooperating fully with federal prosecutors.

The Reuters report added that it was not immediately clear whether Time Inc. was a witness or target of the investigation or whether other publishers had received subpoenas. The U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn was not immediately available for comment.

The source said that sponsored sales programs account for about 5 percent of Time Inc.'s rate base, or circulation guaranteed to advertisers. The source also noted that some of the company's magazines have no sponsored sales programs at all.Long Island.