Source Interlink Closure and Rebranding Puts 2600 in Limbo | Hacker News Reader

Source Interlink Closure and Rebranding Puts 2600 in Limbo

2600.com

92 pointsstox27 comments

Title is editorialized, it should be 'SOURCE INTERLINK CLOSURE AND REBRANDING PUTS 2600 IN LIMBO'.

The kneejerk reaction here is to hope that a bunch of hackers (read: script kiddies looking to impress) go after the 'new' company and cause havoc until they settle up. Credit to the crew at 2600 who as usual are advocating a calm, logical course of action and not looking for a personal army of hackers to carry out attacks.

I hope they are successful as I am a lifetime subscriber and I really like the print magazine. What happened is unfair and looks like a scam. If 2600 fight a clean battle and do not recover what they are owed, then I might not have a problem with some creative social engineering, etc. That's money I gave to 2600, and I'll have a real hard time feeling sorry for TEN if they have some technical difficulties in the future.

And 'Ten: The Enthusiast Network' should now be referred to as 'Ten: The Embezzlement Network' going forward. Call it what it is.

Thank you. We reverted the title.

My apologies for editorializing the title.

This is business as usual at Source Interlink (formerly Primedia). In 2009 Primedia delisted and filed bankruptcy to absolve themselves of >1billion in debt. “This restructuring will materially reduce our interest expense and debt levels,” Source Interlink Chief Executive Officer Greg Mays, 2009

A colleague of mine was there first for their 2009 bankruptcy. Essentially, they delayed finalizing his commission structure and then simply stopped paying. When he left they owed him >50k. He, unfortunately, didn't bring the case in front of the labor board for fear of retribution.

"Source Home Entertainment LLC" was the parent company which filed for bankruptcy. Underneath that was Source Interlink International, Source Interlink Distribution. Not Source Interlink Media.

It is clear Source Interlink Media knew Source Home Entertainment would be filing for bankruptcy because they changed their name in May. Source Home Entertainment filed June 23rd. Legally these were separate businesses. As private companies it is difficult to tell much more.

This happens in tech company's as well as publishers - one large profitable multi national made its UK subsidiary bankrupt so as to avoid paying any redundancy.

Apparently there was a whole off site company meeting when they arrived they found a load of the RB2 forms on tables and where told start filling those in you don't have a Job.

In the UK if a company goes bust the government pays the statutory redundancy (up to a limit)

Looking at Source Home Entertainment's bankruptcy filing http://bankruptcy.morrisjames.com/files/2014/06/0001-Volunta... (parent company of Source Interlink) here are their top 5 creditors,

Time Warner: $53 million Curtis Circulation: $49 million Comag Marketing Group: $32 million BGI Inc: $16.8 million Kable Distribution Services Inc: $11.7 million

2600 made out pretty good.

On a more positive note, I just found out about 2600.

Awesome! I do the layout "design" of the magazine and have been for about seven years. Doing something such as that and being able to find it at a Barnes and Noble is very rewarding in a different but similar was as creating a website and seeing people use it...

I've been reading 2600 since I was in middle school. I always felt so subversive going to Barnes and Noble, finding it on the rack, and reading the mag cover to cover on the bench. Occasionally, I would ditch my mom and buy a copy without her seeing.

You guys are fighting the good fight. Keep it up. <3 forever.

Thanks Zach. Same thing here. If parents would stop and think about (at least my definition of) what a "hacker" is, a maker/creator/doer/free-thinker, I think they would in fact encourage reading the magazine.

PS - Be sure to try to make it out to HOPE (Hackers on Planet Earth): http://hope.net/

Turns out they are very supportive. It was mostly just 13 year old me expecting the worst. :p

The only thing I don't like about HOPE is that the videos are so expensive to buy, but I understand HOPE is very expensive to run.

They often end up on torrent sites and the audio often uploaded for free. If you have any suggestions, we're always open to doing things in new and better ways.

@Skram

Sorry for the disjointed thoughts, it's late here.

My email is in my profile if you want to discuss this further.

1. Subscriptions to past and future videos.

2. Pay what you want packs of DRM free digital magazines and videos (see Humble Bundle, maybe you can do the HOPE Bundle?)

3. Timed release of very old videos (done)

3. Ways for non-live listeners to contribute, especially from overseas.

4. Future: subscription to live streaming/delayed streaming for the conference itself + ability to participate virtually in the conference

I think you will find all of them up on youtube.

er 2600 is far more on the phreak side than the maker fare types - I used to work for a company where a lot of our tech guys where members of the UK arm.

It looks like they are deleting the comments of Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/TENenthusiast

I used to buy the paper copy of 2600 every quarter until Borders in the UK vanished and I couldn't find it anywhere. A Kindle version fixes all of my problems though.

Does anyone know if the publisher gets any money off me for buying previous editions of 2600 off the Kindle store? I've obviously subscribed now but I'd like to read some of the issues I missed.

The irony of a hacker magazine relying on print distribution. Wouldn't a 1337 4axx0r figure out something with mobile apps, websites, ads, etc?

2600 has been in print for almost 30 years, longer than probably most HN readers have been alive I would wager. You can get it on Kindle these days too, IIRC it's only a buck a month (but still published quarterly).

Nothing wrong with a little variety in your life, medium wise. Also, it's "h4xx0r", not "4axx0r"

It's 1337. Hahaha. Do they still have 2600 meetups anymore?

I was waiting to see how long it would take one of you to get upset about that.

Perhaps the fact that 2600 has a large following among hardware hackers who might prefer something more tangible escaped you.

Yes, I'm clearly an idiot. Thank you random internet person.

I'm 30 years old, and judging by the immaturity of HN comments these days I'm older than most of you n00bs. I like how your shitty comments don't get downvoted.

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