Playboy magazine hits 50 with its January issue, but instead of easing into middle age, the purveyor of adult entertainment with its bow-tied bunny icon is using the Web and the latest TV and radio technology to grab new audiences.

Playboy magazine, whose first centrefold was Marilyn Monroe, may be looking a little grey around the edges, but parent Playboy Enterprises is trying not to cede ground to rivals.

For the past year, the company has retooled the magazine and lured a new editor, James Kaminsky, from Maxim, an aggressive competitor. Playboy's giant, 300-page anniversary issue hit US newsstands on Friday.

Playboy, run by Christie Hefner, the daughter of founder Hugh Hefner, has trained its eye on pay-per-view fees from digital cable television and online subscriptions and e-commerce to boost profits.

Playboy even has a channel on XM Satellite Radio, where for an extra $2.99 a month listeners can hear shows like "Sex Court," described as a courtroom drama ripped from the headlines and bed sheets.

"As technologies grow in terms of digital cable and satellite homes, as well as Internet use and even new platforms like wireless, I think Playboy will grow with them." Christie Hefner said in an interview.

This year, Playboy's widely held Class B stock has jumped about 60 percent, versus a 42.3 percent gain in the Russell 2000 index of small-company stocks. Playboy shares rose two cents to $16.21 on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.

Its stock is shunned by investors avoiding the adult entertainment sector. Many so-called socially conscious mutual funds, for example, stay away.

"In our case we just don't view their product as having a positive impact on society," said Todd Ahlsten, director of research at Parnassus Investments in San Francisco.

FOCUSING ON TV

Playboy has come a long way since 1953, when Hugh Hefner, then 27, borrowed $8,000 to finance Playboy magazine and created the first issue in his Chicago apartment.

Chicago-based Playboy has forecast that full-year operating profit should nearly triple to roughly $25 million from $8.6 million in 2002, helped in part by advertising from the anniversary issue, its biggest in 18 years in terms of paid advertising.

With magazine publishing considered a mature business, Playboy hopes for growth in digital cable TV revenues + including pay-per-view fees from adult movies and its Spice and Playboy TV channels.

Since acquiring three adult TV operations in mid-2001, Playboy's domestic TV revenues have increased 27 percent to $94 million in 2002 from $74 million in 2000.

This year, the spotlight has been on international since Playboy bought out its overseas partner. Through the first nine months of 2003, international TV sales rose to $25 million from $9.8 million in 2002.

Last year, revenue from TV and videos eclipsed publishing for the first time. This year, the Internet group, which had been a loss leader, began turning a profit.

"Playboy has managed to maintain a pretty strong position, certainly in the magazine area. Then gradually, the Internet developed, and that has created a whole new outlet," said analyst Dennis McAlpine of McAlpine Associates.

Playboy magazine became a symbol of the sexual revolution in the 1960s, but since its heyday, US circulation has fallen about 50 percent to 3.2 million. The magazine has recently been fighting off a slew of brassy competitors, including Maxim, FHM and Stuff, as well as a severe advertising slump.

With its push into cable TV and the Internet, Hefner said Playboy has a bigger audience than ever.

"I think we have reinforced our position as the pre-eminent branded content supplier for entertainment for grown-ups," she said.

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