Changes Afoot for Hollywood Trade Pubs

Variety will go back behind a pay wall next year, less than 2 years after tearing down its old one, the Los Angeles Times reports. Variety.com will be open only to print or online subscribers, just as it was before February 2007. “Everyone thought then that if you got more traffic, you could sell more ads and make a ton of money,” said publisher Brian Gott. “We made a real effort.”

Now, Variety will focus instead on “the professional entertainment community,” returning to its trade publication roots, Gott said. Meanwhile, the rival Hollywood Reporter is planning to shut down its daily print newspaper, sources tell Nikki Finke of Deadline Hollywood Daily. THR will move to a paid, web-only model, publishing only the occasional special in 3-D. (More Variety stories.)