According to Advertising Age, Macrovision Solutions Corporation (NASDAQ: MSVN) has sold the iconic TV Guide to the private equity firm OpenGate Capital. For $1. One freaking dollar! And, even worse, Macrovision is loaning OpenGate $9.5 million at 3% interest to cover the cost of reinvigorating the brand and fulfilling the obligation to serve its current subscribers.

As a child, I would pore over TV Guide, imaging what wonders lay in store for me in the coming week, unaware that the shows would almost always fall short of their promise. For many years, TV Guide and broadcast television were virtually inseparable. Now it's worth a cup of coffee.

The sale demonstrates the difficulty faced by businesses that try to do in print what the electronic world can do better. Want to know what's on tonight? Sites such as AOL Television can provide up to the moment listings, with links and background. With a majority of Americans on cable, program listing are only a button push away. Traditionalists can still find listing in the newspaper.

The type of insider features that were once the meat and potatoes of TV Guide have become core programming for a multitude of magazines such as People and another dying franchise, Reader's Digest. The airwaves are replete with meta-TV programs about TV programs, such as Entertainment Tonight.

No doubt OpenGate intends to reinvent TV Guide, but I have doubts that there is enough value left in the brand to claw its way back to relevancy.

However, I can't quibble that The Price Is Right (CBS, 11:00 a.m.).

TV Guide sold for $1 -- but wait, there's more originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.