Business

CONDE NIXES FLICK SCHTICK

THE rock may be crumbling a bit.

Condé Nast’s “Movies Rock” concert, which last year was a Hollywood counterpart to the successful, Emmy-winning “Fashion Rocks” concert at Radio City Music Hall – has been bumped.

The first “Movies Rock” was staged last December at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles and aired as a TV special on CBS on Dec. 7.

It featured a separate magazine overseen by Vanity Fair Editor-in-Chief Graydon Carter that was sent to subscribers of 14 of the company’s magazines including Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Vogue, GQ and Glamour.

Richard Beckman, president of the Condé Nast Media Group, which runs both “Movies Rock” and “Fashion Rocks,” said the movie event hasn’t been canceled – just postponed.

He added the decision was reached months ago with the Producers Guild and Entertainment Industry Foundation.

One insider conceded that “Movies Rock” might have been quietly scuttled in the spring, but it was included in the company’s 2008 budget projections and that publishers initially expected to reap the extra ad revenue from the magazine.

Beckman said he still plans to do a second “Movies Rock” next year, but a date hasn’t been set.

He said he never felt it was going to be an annual event, unlike the six-year-old “Fashion Rocks” which coincides with Fashion Week in the Big Apple.

“We’re working on a date right now,” said Beckman of the next “Movies Rock.” “We’re tentatively looking at the second quarter in 2009, around June.”

Moving the date, however, has a downside: None of the Condé Nast magazines will be able to get a boost in their anemic December ad-page tally, a very closely watched barometer at Condé Nast.

“It probably averaged around 25 ad pages per magazine,” said one source.

The loss of those ad pages, which dressed up their sales figures last year, are going to make the tallies look even more dismal this year at a time when publishers are desperately scrambling for ads.

The New Yorker has seen its ad pages sink nearly 24 percent to 994 through the Sept. 22 issue, according to Media Industry Newsletter, while Vogue, the flagship and most profitable magazine in the empire last year, is off nearly 6 percent to 2,462 ad pages through the October issue. Glamour, the second-most profitable magazine in the empire, is down more than 9 percent to 1,505 through October.

And with the economy expected to sputter into the new year, it could well mean that “Movies Rock,” quietly fades away.

“It wasn’t very profitable and took an enormous amount of time and energy from the individual publishers,” said the source.

However, Beckman insists it will return.

No support

It’s budget time inside Hachette Filipacchi Media – the first one since Jack Kliger stepped down as CEO on Sept. 1 and was succeeded by Alain Lemarchand – and we hear the troops are very unhappy.

First, there was the execution of Home magazine, one of Kliger’s last official acts before stepping away.

Adding to the gloom, the company recently fired all its receptionists.

“It’s peanuts, it doesn’t effect the outcome,” said one source, referring to the support-staff cuts. “Morale, which was bad, has gotten much worse.”

A company spokesman insisted that cutting four receptionists was part of a reallocation of resources.

In the past, every floor had a reception area; now there is one central reception area with badges used to give people access to other floors.

What’s more, sources say Lemarchand appears unwilling to capitalize on Elle magazine’s recent buzz.

Under Editor-in-Chief Robbie Myers, and thanks in some measure to its ties to hit reality series “Project Runway,” the title has been having a good year in the ad-page tally, with Group Publisher Carol Smith reporting a 5.4 percent increase through October to 2,151, according to MIN.

Hoping to bolster her hard- fought gains against Vogue, Myers has pressed in budget meetings for more editorial pages next year.

“[Lemarchand’s] response was, ‘How do you monetize it?’ ” said a source.

“If the new guy was smart, he’d be investing in Elle,” said the source.

A spokeswoman conceded the budget process is currently underway, but declined to comment on any specifics.

Home cut

More signs of softness in the shelter category.

Meredith Corp. is said to be telling ad agencies that it will cut the frequency of Country Home next year to eight issues from 10.

Through October this year, the magazine tumbled 19.6 percent to 523.4 ad pages.

“It was a business decision to bring it in line with other magazines in the category,” said a Meredith spokesman, who added the new publishing schedule matches up with Traditional Home.

Palin punch

More updated numbers on People’s Sarah Palin cover from the Sept. 15 issue (which went on sale Sept. 5) show the magazine sold about 150,000 more copies than the initial estimate of 1.75 million.

The latest estimate is that the magazine sold 1.9 million copies of the issue with the cover line: “EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS: SARAH PALIN’S FAMILY DRAMA.”

But the follow-up cover a week later on Sen. John McCain with the cover line “INSIDE THE FAM ILY: MEET THE McCAINS” was something of a bust, having sold just 1.35 million copies, according to industry estimates. The issue went on sale on Sept. 12 with a cover date of Sept. 22.

People ordinarily sells about 1.45 million copies on newsstands in an average week, which means the McCain issue fell 100,000 short.

No plans

New York’s top cop Ray Kelly lands as one of the top 10 “Visionaries” in the issue of Men’s Vogue hitting newsstand this week.

Asked the perennial question on his potential mayoral ambitions, Kelly told the magazine, “I don’t have a plan. I really don’t. Maybe I should have a plan. But this is a total immersion job.”

Asked if he’s ever not working, Kelly said, “No.”

And what bores you? “Vacation.”

When Kelly was asked on the Men’s Vogue Web site if he’s ever jaywalked or been caught speeding, he said only, “Are you kidding?”

Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who is said to be toying with the idea of overturning term limits to allow himself to run for a third term, chimed in with a few niceties about the commissioner, who has a weakness for spit-and-polish black shoes, bespoke suits and Charvet neckties.

“Ray is probably the only member of my administration as comfortable on Saville Row as he is on Sutphin Boulevard,” said Bloomberg.

Men’s get

Barack Obama is on the cover of the November issue of Men’s Health, its 20th anniversary issue and the largest November issue in its history.

The mag could use the help. Through October, it was down 9.7 percent in ad pages to 817.

Men’s Health caught the candidate for an interview last month on the Democratic nominee’s 47th birthday while traveling on a flight between Lansing, Mich., and Boston.

“The Obama campaign has been incredibly media savvy with whom they choose to talk with, and who they keep at arm’s length,” said Men’s Health editor David Zinczenko, taking a snipe at Esquire, which had Obama on the cover in April but had to settle for a photo that was left over from a Time magazine cover shoot.

(Of course, Zinczenko doesn’t mention that Men’s Vogue also has an Obama cover this month.)

keith.kelly@nypost.com