Brunico Communications has announced the closing of Boards magazine and the cancellation of the print version of Playback resulting in the loss of 18 jobs at the company.

The moves to close Boards and bring Playback online were made for different reasons, says Brunico Communications president and CEO Russell Goldstein.

Boards, which reported on the international commercial production industry was hit hard by the recent economic downturn, says Goldstein. With Playback, which reports on Canadian broadcasting and interactive media he says the decision to transition to online-only has been in the works for years. “We put up a paywall on the site in 2007,” he says. “We felt delivering a bi-weekly industry magazine in print was not sustainable.”

In addition to jobs lost at both titles, Goldstein says there were also layoffs in the general service departments at the company. “These are always difficult decisions to make,” he says. “But the brands that remain in our portfolio are strong and we remain optimistic.”