TORONTO — Sun Media newspapers are once again receiving content from The Canadian Press news service.
CP President Malcolm Kirk called the return of the 33 papers an important milestone for The Canadian Press, the national news agency that operates in both official languages on multiple platforms.
The Sun Media properties were among those recently purchased for $316 million from Quebecor (TSX:QBR.A, TSX:QBR.B) by Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (TSX:PNC.B, TSX:PNC.A).
Kirk announced Tuesday that The Canadian Press and Postmedia Network Canada have signed a four-year service contract.
The Sun properties include the canoe.ca web portal and such major metro dailies as the Toronto Sun, Ottawa Sun, Winnipeg Sun, Edmonton Sun, Calgary Sun and London Free Press.
Postmedia is shuttering the English-language service of QMI Agency, the news wire service the company acquired from Quebecor. QMI will continue to operate in French under Quebecor.
The demise of the English side of QMI affects nine full-time and part-time employees. Phyllise Gelfand, a spokeswoman for Postmedia, said the company would make efforts to reassign those QMI workers elsewhere in the organization.
Postmedia signed again with The Canadian Press in 2012, after having left in 2007 under the then-ownership of Canwest. Sun Media, then owned by Quebecor, had pulled out of involvement with The Canadian Press in 2010.
The Canadian Press is jointly owned by the parent companies of the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and Montreal's La Presse.
