EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Markets and Companies

"Playboy International Publishing representatives contacted us immediately after the company 'Zurnals Santa' decided against publishing the magazine at the beginning of last year. Negotiations have continued all this time, and at the beginning of this year we came to an agreement on the publishing of 'Playboy' in Latvia by Dienas zurnali," indicated Gorbunova.

The publishing director refrained from information on a launch date, number of issues to be printed, or a price for the magazine; however, she revealed that the magazine would not be released "tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or even next month."

According to Gorbunova, information about the magazine's release would be made public no sooner than a month before, writes LETA.

"During the crisis, a new publication is a risk; however, we are not afraid of risks, and we have decided to use this time for our development," said Gorbunova.

The company "Zurnals Santa" backed out of publishing the magazine last year, and Aivars Rudzinskis, chairman of the publishing firm Izdevniecibas Lilita has publicly said that "Playboy" magazine has no potential in Latvia.

"It is fully understandable that these two publishers do not see the release of one more male lifestyle magazine in Latvia as productive. The concept of 'Playboy' is in essence very similar to the magazine 'Klubs' published by 'Zurnals Santa'. It even seemed strange to me that the 'Santa' group would need 'Playboy' in their product portfolio, which would be in very close competition with 'Klubs'. Also, Rudzinskis is the publisher of 'FHM', and 'FHM' and 'Playboy' are, although aimed at differed readerships, still mutually competing brands," said Gorbunova.