2009 was a difficult year for Condé Nast, one of the big magazine publishers based in New York. Things got so bad for the company, it hired infamous consultants McKinsey & Co. to come in and look over its books, eventually slashing budgets by about 25 percent across the board for 2010 and scuttling six pubs before the year was out. Since it’s a large industry leader, media watchers look at changes at Condé Nast as indicative of the sector — so after a tough year good news for Condé might mean good news for the rest of us.

First, the publisher seems to be (finally) recognizing that its bread and butter, luxury advertising, has taken a nosedive in recent years. Mediaweek reports today that Condé Nast has been giving more concessions to advertisers for the coming year, including seeking only a 2.5 percent increase in CPM rates, when it had customarily sought 5 percent.

Today also brings news that Condé Nast is seeking subpoenas of Google and AT&T in an attempt to gather info about five hackers who allegedly accessed the company’s computer network earlier this year, publishing content from men’s magazine GQ before the pub hit newsstands. The subpoenas are the latest in the publisher’s copyright infringement suit against the hackers, The New York Post‘s Keith Kelly reported.

And in other news, FishbowlNY has heard from various sources within Condé that the company’s Fairchild Publications division is working on a new men’s wear publication. This new pub comes just over a year after the company shuttered men’s wear trade DNR and its monthly sister pub Menswear, folding them into WWD. When Condé Nast starts launching publications instead of folding them, it’s good news for everyone.

Condé Nast Gets Flexible With 2010 Ad Concessions –Mediaweek

Condé subpoenas Google, AT&T in hacker fight –New York Post