Is Ringier planning a new lifestyle free paper?

Tamedia's people magazine 20 Minuten Friday, a collaboration between 20 Minuten, Annabelle and Tilllate.com, will be launched in October (see: Tamedia's new gossip magazine is called 20 Minuten Friday). It may soon have competition, as Ringier also seems to be considering launching a free lifestyle magazine. A development editorial team is already working on the concept for the magazine, the news network portals report. As the owner of the Blick family and Schweizer Illustrierte, Ringier also has the right resources to launch another people and lifestyle magazine. At the request of Newsnetz, a Ringier executive confirmed that Ringier is considering launching a free lifestyle magazine. However, the Executive Board and Group Management have not yet given the green light to a concrete project. And it is still unclear what the magazine could look like in detail. The Ringier press office refrained from commenting on the project for a new Weekend magazine, adding that Nik Niethammer is the clear favorite for the journalistic leadership. The Zurich journalist was already a page editor at Blick and wrote for Schweizer Illustrierte before the then Sat.1 station boss Roger Schawinski brought him to the German private station in March 2004. Most recently, Niethammer was editor-in-chief at Sat.1, but only for a period of two months.