Conglomeration, mergers and concentration of ownership in media isn’t just a trend affecting the big print papers. As employees of 10-year-old Euro indie shred pub Method Mag found out a couple days ago, it’s an issue that hits home as well.

Boomerang Plus, a television production group based in the UK, just bought Method’s print and online properties for an undisclosed lump of cash. The company says it plans to integrate Method into its new subsidiary, Boom Extreme Publishing.

Boomerang’s growth strategy in regards to action sports appears aggressive, saying its objective is to “seek opportunities with key publishing brands, help drive and develop multimedia concepts and build a digital media portfolio within the extreme sports space using the Group’s existing infrastructure and expertise.”

In a press statement, Gareth Rees, executive director of Boomerang, said: “We are extremely pleased to welcome Method as part of our group. It is one of the most credible brands in the European extreme sports scene and we are very excited to bring publishing and TV together to take advantage of new media platforms.

“The group sees this acquisition as a natural and exciting extension to the business and realises the potential benefits and opportunities this could afford through various synergies. We have a development plan in place to aim to become the ultimate snowboarding media platform in Europe and beyond.”

Rasmus Ostergaard, managing director of Method, said: “The group’s skilled professionals share our enthusiasm for snowboarding and are leading players within extreme sports production. Boomerang’s expertise, creativity and business qualities will have a significant positive impact on our business.

“Long term, it gives us a stronger foundation to project the Method brand to a bigger audience, and short term, it helps us to focus on delivering high quality content both in print and online to our existing audience.

“It also enables us to focus on our advertisers’ needs for partnerships with media groups like us in print magazine, online and IPTV for the future growth of snowboarding.”

The shape of more things to come like this for niche media? Perhaps it’s what’s needed to take an outlet to its next level. Interesting story, indeed. Here’s to hoping the little guys don’t get the short end of the stick.