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Publishing giant Primedia Inc. today announced a joint venture with Brill Media Holdings to combine its newsletters, magazines, Web sites and databases into a new subsidiary called Media Central.

Brill Media Holdings, which runs Brill's Content magazine and Contentville.com, has landed a minority interest in the new spinoff. Brill's top man, Steven Brill, has landed the role of CEO of Media Central, which will fall under Primedia's B2B Group.

In return, Media Central has taken a 49 percent interest in the properties of Brill Media Holdings, majority ownership and control of which will remain with Steven Brill and the BMH partners.

Neither Primedia nor Media Central will have any funding requirements related to Brills Content or Contentville.com, the two sides said in a statement.

Primedia properties to be included in Media Central include Kagan World Media, Folio Magazine and the related trade shows, American Demographics, Cable World, Simba, MediaCentral.com and Circulation Management.

"The rationale for this venture is as compelling as it is obvious," said Primedia CEO Tom Rogers in a statement. "At a time when the media business is expanding and the old boundaries that separated these industries are rapidly disappearing, it makes sense to put all of these products under one roof," he added.

Brill also touted the joint venture, saying it would create "enormous potential" in the new media industry.

"Much of that potential can be realized by getting the talented people who produce them all into one organization where all can be focused on becoming the leading source of news about the media industry and all can be encouraged to come up with new product offerings, cross market their products, and share some of what they do across various titles, not to mention contribute to a common website, MediaCentral.com, that will also benefit from material produced by the staff of Brills Content," Brill said.