Gruner & Jahr Exec Fills TV Guide Publisher Post

TV Guide announced Monday that it has tapped J. Scott Crystal as executive vice president and publisher of TV Guide Publishing Group, the largest-circulation weekly magazine in the U.S.

Filling a position that has been vacant for more than a year, Crystal, 46, will oversee advertising sales and marketing teams for TV Guide’s print publications and online platform. He was most recently president and chief executive of Gruner & Jahr USA Publishing’s business magazine group.

The appointment comes as TV Guide’s Pasadena-based parent, Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc., struggles to turn around the magazine after several years of neglect.

TV Guide this year hired John Loughlin to fill a new position overseeing the magazine group, and the company is searching for a new editor in chief after the resignation of Steven Reddicliffe last month.

The search for an editor probably will be completed by February, Loughlin said.

Shares of Gemstar, which publishes TV Guide and sells on-screen television program guides, closed up 16 cents at $3.28 in Nasdaq trading.

The company is under a federal investigation of accounting practices and has lost more than 80% of its stock value this year, forcing News Corp. to write down about $6 billion of its investment in the company.