Here Media’s Los Angeles Roots Reflect the Evolution of LGBTQ+ Media

Los Angeles is home to Here Media Inc., an LGBTQ-oriented media company whose work has centered on producing and distributing content for LGBT audiences. Its history traces the changing business of LGBTQ+ media, from early online ventures and specialty television to a portfolio that once included several prominent publications.

The company was formed in 2009, when Here Networks LLC and Regent Entertainment Media Inc. combined with PlanetOut Inc. That deal brought together businesses with roots in online media, television and publishing. Although Here Media took its present form in 2009, the corporate history behind it reaches back several years earlier.

In December 2000, Online Partners agreed to acquire PlanetOut Corp., creating PlanetOut Partners Inc. PlanetOut later became a publicly traded company, joining NASDAQ in October 2004 under the ticker symbol LGBT. The company expanded its publishing footprint in November 2005 by acquiring LPI Media, the publisher of The Advocate, OUT, HIV Plus and Alyson Books.

Television was another part of that media landscape. Privately held Here TV launched in 2002 and was made available in 50 million homes. The network was aimed at LGBTQ audiences, adding a television outlet to the broader mix of publications and online services associated with the companies that eventually became part of Here Media’s history.

Regent Entertainment Media acquired the rights to The Advocate, OUT, HIV Plus and Alyson Books in 2008. That company is now known as Here Publishing Inc. and is identified as a subsidiary of Here Media Inc. The following year, the combination that created Here Media brought these strands of LGBTQ-focused media under a larger corporate umbrella.

The publishing business later changed hands. In 2017, Here Media sold its publishing operations to Oreva Capital. After that acquisition, Here Publishing was renamed Pride Media Inc. The transaction marked a shift in ownership for the publications, while also separating the publishing operation from the company’s wider history as a Los Angeles-based LGBTQ media business.

For Los Angeles, Here Media’s story is part of the city’s role as a base for specialized entertainment and communications companies. It also illustrates how LGBTQ media organizations have developed across multiple formats rather than relying on a single platform. Television, online media and print publishing each formed part of the chain of businesses that led to Here Media, and the company’s evolution reflects the continuing reorganization of LGBTQ media brands and enterprises.

Source and reuse information This backgrounder adapts factual material from “Here Media” on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_Media The adapted text is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license (CC BY-SA 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. This story has not been independently reviewed or fact-checked.

Further links listed by the Wikipedia page (not independently checked): - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1453625/000095012309014626/f52796exv99w1.htm - https://venturebeat.com/2008/05/01/gay-ad-network-makes-a-river-from-small-streams-while-planetout-struggles/ - https://www.reuters.com/article/us-here/gay-channel-here-boosts-programming-efforts-idUSN2819055620071001 - https://www.glaad.org/2009/05/15/here-networks-nominated-for-daytime-emmy-award - https://web.archive.org/web/20120118060857/http://www.here-films.com/ - https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oreva-lgbt-idUSKCN1BI1QW Image rights Original illustrative artwork created from story keywords. It is not a documentary photograph.