| Headquarters | 298 Queen Street East Sault Ste. Marie, ON P6A 1Y7 |
|---|---|
| Website | villagemedia |
Village Media is a Canadian media company which operates a number ofhyperlocal online news and community websites throughoutOntario.[1]
Village Media's news sites focus on providing local stories written by local journalists in the communities that they serve.[2] In addition to local news, the sites offer weather, events, obituaries, and a wide range of community information. Village Media is known for supporting local events and charitable causes.
The company also maintains content and marketing partnerships with community newspapers in several other Ontario cities, includingTBNewswatch.com inThunder Bay andManitoulin.ca onManitoulin Island. Village Media was also a partner with the defunctLocalXpress in Halifax, providing them with the publication platform.
SooToday.com was originally launched in 2000 as a regional tabloid shopping and business directory,[3] owned by former broadcaster Dick Peplow.
Following significant news cutbacks atMCTV, which merged all of the region's local television newscasts into a single regional program produced in Sudbury, SooToday began producing locally focused news content. In doing so, they became one of the first prominent Canadian ventures in hyperlocal web-only media.[3] Peplow launched sister site BayToday.ca in 2003.[3]
Following Peplow's death in 2007,[4] local IT consultant Jeff Elgie, formerly a minority investor in the site, increased his ownership stake, and eventually became CEO.
Inspired by the SooToday.com model, a different company launched TimminsToday.com, which was acquired by Village Media in 2014.[5]
The company's recent expansion efforts have concentrated on midsized cities in Southern Ontario, typically launching soon after the closure of the community's prior daily newspaper.[6] It launched BarrieToday.com in October 2015 inBarrie, GuelphToday.com in February 2016 inGuelph,[7] and OrilliaMatters.com inOrillia in 2018.[6]
Village Media also operatedHalifaxToday.ca inHalifax,[8]OttawaMatters.com inOttawa[9] andKitchenerToday.com inKitchener,[10] in conjunction withRogers Radio-owned news radio stations in those markets, although all have since been converted to the Rogers-ownedCityNews brand.
In 2020, the company acquired the assets ofLaurentian Media Group, including theSudbury.com news website and the business magazineNorthern Ontario Business.[11] Village Media ceased publication of Laurentian's twice-weekly print newspaperNorthern Life while retaining the Sudbury.com web edition.
In early 2021, the company expanded into the United States for the first time, with the acquisition ofThe Longmont Leader inLongmont, Colorado.[12] The news website was shuttered in 2024.[13]
The company formerly operated the video news portallocal2.ca in Sault Ste. Marie, and theVM Radio network ofinternet radio streams.[1] Local2 was fully integrated into SooToday.[14] VM Radio was shut down.
In 2024 the company announced plans to launchSpaces, a localizedsocial networking platform that will enable users to join customized groups to discuss topics of community interest, such as local sports and history.[15]
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