Village Media
Village Media is a Canadian company, which operates several internet media properties in Ontario.[1] Based in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario,[1] the company's properties include the internet newspapers SooToday.com in Sault Ste. Marie, BayToday.com in North Bay and TimminsToday.com in Timmins, the video news portal local2.ca in Sault Ste. Marie, and the VM Radio network of internet radio streams.[1]
The company has no operations in Sudbury, the region's largest city; instead, it launched a content-sharing and marketing partnership with the Sudbury-based community newspaper Northern Life in 2014.[1]
History
SooToday.com was launched in 2000 as a regional tabloid shopping and business directory,[2] owned by former broadcaster Dick Peplow.[3] Following significant news cutbacks at MCTV, which merged all of the region's local television newscasts into a single regional program produced in Sudbury, SooToday began producing locally oriented news content, becoming one of the first prominent Canadian ventures in web-only media.[2] Peplow launched sister site BayToday.ca in 2003.[2]
Following Peplow's death in 2007,[3] local IT consultant Jeff Elgie, formerly a minority investor in the publications and now the company's CEO, increased his ownership stake.
Inspired by the SooToday.com model, a different company launched TimminsToday.com, which was acquired by Village Media in 2014.[4]
The company has since launched BarrieToday.com in Barrie and GuelphToday.com in Guelph.[5]
References
- 1 2 3 4 "Media outlets partner to expand Northern news network". Northern Ontario Business, October 2, 2014.
- 1 2 3 "Sootoday.com a hit". Northern Ontario Business, April 1, 2004.
- 1 2 "Peplow left a legacy". Northern News Services, July 18, 2007.
- ↑ "Timmins Today sold". 93.1 Moose FM, May 15, 2014.
- ↑ "Village Media rushes to fill local news void left by Guelph Mercury". The Globe and Mail, February 7, 2016.