Tuesday 6 October 2009

New print paper

The print edition of Brantford's new and independent Brant News will hit the streets Oct. 15, says a TSF tipster.

And Sun Media's Brantford Expositor is about to launch a new weekly newspaper.

There's nothing like a little competition to get the creative juices flowing again.

"We're canning our old Weekender, which was filled with recycled news, and doing something the same but better," says the tipster.

The tipster also comments on the sale of Sun Media buildings.

"I notice a lot of people on your site are wondering why the Sun is selling off properties. I've been told the new mentality is that they don't want to be property owners.

"In the case of The Expositor, owning the property meant we ended up with a building far too big for us and way too expensive for us.

"They only want to be tenants from now on. Our building's been sold. We're moving to the north end with all the elitists."

Thank you for the updates.

8 comments:

  1. Quote - "… they don't want to be property owners."

    Seems like they don't want to be newspaper owners either

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  2. Plus, the nice thing about this arrangement is they can keep consolidating more and more services and constantly reduce the size of the buildings they own as more employees leave. How convenient!
    Not that it matters. Eventually, everything will be absorbed into Woodstock's "Centre of Excellence."
    I think we should all find out how long the new lease term is on the new building when it's all finalized. That should tell us what's really going on.

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  3. I've been thinking. Before we move we should all demand an independent air quality test, or have the latest test performed by the buyer made public before the evidence is permanently sealed away or removed.

    There is something awful in the ducting systems, I'm almost certain of it after what I've been hearing, and we've all been breathing that in for years!

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  4. If you're still employed at Sun under your own free will, yes, there MUST be something in the air.

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  5. The Expositor is only willing to sign a one year lease on the new building ...... hmmmmmmmm....... what does that mean?

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  6. No surprises there. Like the other girl/guy said earlier: they sign a one year lease and then re-assess if they need the space after continued cut-backs. Plain and simple.

    Why bother paying for a building you don't need 12 months from now?

    And what do you think will happen, say five years from now, once they finally take the BIG plunge and pull print editions in favour of Internet-only ventures? Think of all the money saved! All the FTEs they no longer need! I'll bet PKP is fro thing at the mouth over that one.

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  7. I can confirm the one year lease too. It's a telling sign that Sun Media is planning more cutbacks when they won't commit to anything longer.

    I guess we all just hold our breaths for another year. Just like we did last year. And the year before that.

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  8. The fact that it's only a one year lease should be concerning. Normally a business the size of Quebecor will leverage their clought to strike the best deal possible. If a one year lease is all that surfaces, then guaranteed that's all they bargained for.

    Given that Quebecor made such a poor business decision in 2007 by investing almost a billion dollars in Osprey just before the market crashed, it should be enough to understand how desperate they are in cutting expenses, especially since revenue to this day nowhere near the original figures brought fourth during the sale (which bankers have fixed their rates from).

    Also take note that when it comes to conglomerate thinking (in reference to the Brantford Expositor's new weekly), investment ONLY takes place when absolutely necessary (i.e.: when an argument is successfully presented by the publisher outlying the risk to future profits).
    Make no mistake...iIronically, prospective readers will be fooled by the news paper's new marketing slogan that will undoubtedly proclaim the "local" essence of the newspaper. After all, they have to be.

    Good luck Brant News. With the right people and the right direction, you can win this. Afterall, who's ever cheered for a tyrant?

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