TC Media becomes Sole Owner of Réseau Sélect
MONTREAL, January 12, 2012 – TC Media is proud to announce that, effective today, it is the sole shareholder of Réseau Sélect and thus sole owner of the largest advertising network for the French-language weekly press in Canada. All the other independent weekly paper publishers, shareholders of Réseau Sélect, have voluntarily been redeemed by Réseau Sélect. They will however remain members of the network as clients.
In addition to remaining a one-stop shop for print and web advertising for local French-language communities, the TC Media Réseau Sélect will now be able to meet the evolving needs of national advertisers who want integrated marketing solutions. Réseau Sélect will still offer a solid line of print and digital products, and will continue to represent some 150 listed publications, whether published independently or owned by TC Media.
"This change allows us to merge the Réseau Sélect operations with those of the TC Media internal sales network, which gives our national clients a more complete service offering. Our clients will now be able to run campaigns that include our own community papers, but also a larger pool of French-language papers in Canada that serve complementary territories," says Serge Lemieux, VP, Newspaper Division, Québec and Ontario, TC Media, and President of the Board of Directors in charge of managing Réseau Sélect until today's announcement.
Similarly, Réseau Sélect advertisers will now have quick access to TC Media's integrated marketing offering, drawing on its entire portfolio of media products in print, interactive and digital. National clients will thus benefit from the synergy among the various TC Media properties at the local level, including printing and door-to-door distribution (Publisac) services, as well as products such as Publisac.ca, the group buying site lamégaprise.com or the auction site BidGo.ca.
François Laferrière, New General Manager of Réseau Sélect
TC Media takes this opportunity to announce the appointment of François Laferrière to the position of General Manager of Réseau Sélect. Prior to this new appointment, Mr. Laferrière held the position of General Manager, Network Sales and Business Development, within the Quebec/Ontario Newspaper Division of TC Media. Before joining TC Media, Mr. Laferrière was the owner of Journal Le Nord, for over 19 years. François Laferrière has an impressive career path and has been working within the weekly press industry since 1978. He is one of the charter members of Réseau Sélect inc. and has overseen sales management for the organization. He has also been President of the Board of Directors of Réseau Sélect, in addition to being a member of the Board of the Office de la distribution certifiée (ODC) and of Hebdos Québec.
TC Media will continue to operate Réseau Sélect with the existing teams in the Montreal office (630 Sherbrooke West) and Toronto office (2 Carlton Street), some 20 experienced employees who know the weekly press market.
About Réseau Sélect
Established in 1976 by publishers of weekly newspapers in an effort to centralize and facilitate the media purchases of their customers, Réseau Select is the largest national sales advertising house for French-language community papers in Canada. Truly a one-stop shop for print and web, Réseau Sélect reaches 6.9 million readers a week, with 5.7 million page views per month.
Réseau Sélect represents about 150 publications in Canada in 17 administrative regions in Quebec, and covers Ontario, Western Canada and the Atlantic provinces. Most of the community papers represented, whether trade publications (business and farm papers) or serving cultural communities, are certified by the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) and the Office de la distribution certifiée (OCD).
About TC Media
One of Canada's leading providers of media and interactive marketing solutions, TC Media offers a comprehensive line of products and services and an integrated approach to activating customers' marketing. TC Media is one of Canada's largest media groups, reaching 18 million consumers through its multiplatform offering. The group owns a number of major consumer and business media brands that are leveraged across multiple platforms. TC Media is also the leading provider of local and regional information in Quebec and the Atlantic provinces through its extensive network of community papers and online portals. It publishes the Metro weekday daily in Montreal and Halifax. It is also the leading door-to-door distributor of advertising material in Canada, with Publisac in Quebec and Targeo in the rest of Canada. TC Media is a leader in the digital industry in Canada in media properties and online advertising representation. With its extensive network of more than 1,000 websites, TC Media reaches more than 13 million unique visitors per month in Canada. The group offers interactive marketing solutions that harmonize strategy, content and multichannel distribution systems to build lasting relationships between brands and consumers. TC Media also employs its expertise and proprietary software to anticipate and meet consumer needs by means of the new interactive means of communication: mobile, data analytics, email marketing, e-flyers and custom content and communications. TC Media is also active in book publishing and distribution and is the largest publisher of French-language educational resources in Canada.
TC Media is a brand of Transcontinental Inc. (TSX: TCL.A, TCL.B, TCL.PR.D), which has about 10,000 employees in Canada and the United States, and reported revenues of C$2.0 billion in 2011. For more information about the corporation, please visit www.tc.tc.
- 30 -
For information or interview requests:
Media
Katherine Chartrand
Director of Internal and External Communications
TC Media
Telephone: 514 392-2091
katherine.chartrand@tc.tc
