Torstar, Metro, Canwest do deal on free daily papers
The Three Amigos are going to launch a version of Metro, the free paper aimed at commuters, in Vancouver.
And there's plans to go beyond that. in the coming years.
Some excerpts from The Globe and Mail article:
On Monday, the companies launched Metro Vancouver, where 145,000 copies will be distributed throughout the city. The companies plan to boost distribution to 160,000, though they didn't say when. Each company will have a 33.3 per cent interest in the new venture.
Metro Vancouver is the third Metro publication in Canada, following editions in Montreal and Toronto. Canadian readership of Metro publications is 1.3 million “and continues to show double-digit growth each year,” Metro said in a press release.
CanWest, Canada's largest publisher of daily newspapers, already owns both main dailies in Vancouver, and several weeklies in the city and several surrounding suburbs.
In February, CanWest said its free urban publication, Dose, will start up in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa on April 4. The company characterized Dose as a “daily magazine” aimed at 18- to 34-year-olds.
So if I understand this correctly, CanWest is going to go into business with Metro and Torstar to launch a free weekly paper in a market where it plans to introduce its own free daily publication in a matter of weeks?
For some reason, that strikes me as odd, but perhaps it's a form of risk management.