Pink Triangle Press (PTP), Xtra and Fab magazines’ parent company, has sold its shares in OUTtv, Canada’s national gay and lesbian television network.
The sale paves the way for increased investment in sex-positive community journalism, says Ken Popert, PTP’s president and executive director, who will remain on OUTtv’s board of directors.
James Shavick and his partner, Joy MacPhail, have purchased the shares, consolidating their position as the majority shareholders of OUTtv.
The move increases Shavick’s stake in the cable channel from about 52 percent to about 95 percent.
“Participating in the ownership and management of OUTtv for nearly a decade has greatly expanded the capabilities of our organization,” Popert says. “But our future is on the internet and in the mobile space, and the sale of our OUTtv interest will allow us to focus on those.”
For more than 40 years PTP has been Canada’s preeminent gay media organization, best known for the Xtra community publications in Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa, and Fab magazine.