this "might" work for you. it popped up on Joomla.org's extensions today...
AG 2.0 for Joomla 1.12
extensions.joomla.org/component/option,c...k_id,2286/Itemid,35/
Access Granted is a component for MAMBO and/or JOOMLA. Using Access Granted you can define the access level a user needs to have access in the Mambo/Joomla frontend for * a menu item (using the Mambo/Joomla standard menu system) So now you can define menu items so only these menu items are displayed for a user member of these access level group for example "gold" . Users of other groups can see other menu items only being displayed for users of their access levels for example "silver". * a content item You can define access to content items (both normal and static) so only users of a certain access level group (for example 'gold') sees those content items. So you can for example display 4 content items to all users and a fifth one only to members of a certain group (for example 'gold'). A sixth one is only showed to members of another group (for example 'silver'). * a section You can define access to a whole section so only users of a certain access level group can see this section (for example 'gold'). Other sections are only displayed to users of another access level group (for example 'silver'). * a categorie Instead of by section you can fine tune displaying content by using categories instead of sections. * a component Access to a component can be restricted to users of a certain group (for example 'gold'). * a module Access to a module can be restricted to users of a certain group (for example 'gold'). * a mambot A Mambot can be deployed/undeployed bases on which groep the user is in. Lets say that images for example only are being displayed to members of a certain group (for example 'gold'). AG now limits access to the back end too. So you can define to which back end items an administrator has access to. AG can now make your site a members only site so users have to log in before seeing anything. AG now makes it possible to restrict front page editing too. AG contains a very powerfull user management system with handy filters to make user selections based on divers criteria. The user management contains also simple but missed tools like resending emails with passwords to users.