Playback, together with its sister publications and conferences, changed hands on April 4 when the assets of parent Brunico Communications Inc. were bought by a group of investors led by Russell Goldstein.

Goldstein will serve as the president and CEO of a new company, Brunico Communications Ltd., while BCI founder and executive publisher Jim Shenkman will stay on as chairman and a full-time member of the senior management team.

The deal, the financial details of which have not been disclosed, follows talks between the two that started in late 2006.

Goldstein has worked in marketing, technology and content publishing. For the past four years, he worked at New York- and Toronto-based Digital Cement on marketing programs for brands such as Kraft Foods, Dell and FedEx. Prior to that, he was at Rogers Cablesystems, where he planned and launched new broadband services.

‘What excites me about Brunico are the international scope of operations, the strength and quality of the brands within the entertainment and marketing sectors, and most of all, the reputation and talent of the team that I’ll be working alongside,’ said Goldstein in a statement.

Shenkman says he will work to ‘ensure a smooth transition of leadership’ to his successor. ‘I’ve agreed to stay on full-time for a year and then play an advisory role thereafter. I will also… help Russell manage and learn the business, participate and contribute to the evolution of our print, digital and event strategies.’ Shenkman founded Brunico – named for a small town in Italy – 21 years ago with the launch of Playback.

Both say that jobs at Brunico will not be affected. BCL says it will continue to focus on expanding the reach and influence of its brands, including the print and online publications Playback, Playback Daily, Strategy, Media in Canada, KidScreen, Realscreen and ‘Boards, and their corresponding conferences.

With files from Media in Canada