New Automated Public Toilet Demonstrates Continued Success of Toronto's Street Furniture Program

TORONTO, Dec. 6, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - Astral Out-of-Home, a division of Astral Media Inc. (ACM.A ACM.B), and operator of Toronto's Coordinated Street Furniture Program, proudly announces a significant program milestone with the installation of a new Automated Public Toilet (APT) in Toronto.

The new APT is located in The Beach, south side of Lakeshore Blvd, East of Northern Dancer Blvd. This is the second APT available in Toronto with the first installed in May 2010 at Queens Quay Boulevard and Rees Street.  Since then, the APT program has proven successful with the current unit operating 15 hours a day, 7 days a week without issue for the past two years. This speaks to the ongoing success of Toronto's street furniture program

"Toronto's street furniture program is the largest in the world and we are happy to continue our partnership with the City of Toronto and provide Torontonians with a clean, secure and reliable public toilet for both residents and visitors to the city," said Luc Sabbatini, President of Astral Out-of-Home.  "The state-of-the-art automated public toilet, which was specifically designed for Toronto, is only one of more than 25,000 new pieces of street furniture that Astral and the City are installing to help improve city streets."

The Toronto Street Furniture program was launched in 2008 and provides essential street furniture elements including transit shelters, litter/recycling bins, newspaper bins and corrals, information/ wayfinding pillars, public posting columns, bicycle racks and benches across the City of Toronto. The program is fully funded by advertising and the 20 year contract has a value of $915 million for the City of Toronto in street furniture repairs, maintenance and capital expenditures.

Astral Out-of-Home is one of Canada's leading out-of-home advertising companies with more than 9,500 strategically-placed advertising faces in key markets in Québec, Ontario, and British Columbia. As a forward-looking company, Astral Out-of-Home has embarked on a series of green-and-clean initiatives to reduce its ecological footprint and actively participate in sustainable development.

Founded in 1961, Astral is one of Canada's largest media companies. It operates several media properties—pay and specialty television, radio, out-of-home advertising and digital media properties—among the most popular in the country. Astral plays a central role in community life across the country by offering diverse, rich and vibrant programming that meets the tastes and needs of consumers and advertisers alike. To learn more about Astral, go to astral.com.

SOURCE: ASTRAL MEDIA INC.

Media Contacts:
Amanda Santino
Account Supervisor
Weber Shandwick
416 642-7901
[email protected]

Ron Hutchinson
Senior Vice-President Real Estate Services, Ontario
Astral Out-of-Home
416 924-6664
[email protected]