TC Media acquires assets of Tout Magazine and launches Valleyfield Express.ca

The TC Media local information network in the Montérégie now extends from Valleyfield to Sorel-Tracy and south to the U.S. border

MONTREAL, Jan. 9, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - TC Media is proud to announce that it has acquired the assets of Tout Magazine and has officially launched its new community newspaper, the Valleyfield Express.ca. The Tout Magazine is a popular free weekly paper with a circulation of 47,500 that serves the towns of Brossard, La Prairie, Candiac, Saint-Philippe, Saint-Constant and Saint-Luc. TC Media has also launched a brand-new publication to serve the Valleyfield area, the Valleyfield Express.ca, a free weekly distributed to more than 39,000 households; it also has an online website, the www.valleyfieldexpress.ca. This acquisition and new title are part of TC Media's strategy to complete its community paper network in the Montérégie, a network which now extends from Valleyfield to Sorel-Tracy and south to the U.S. border.

"We have been operating our distribution network, Publisac, in the Montérégie for a long time and it has an excellent reputation in the community. We've also been building our local information network in the area through acquisitions and launches for over a year. We are proud to now be offering a paper like Tout Magazine which is very well-respected in the community. We are also pleased to be able to complement our offering by introducing a top-quality paper to serve the Valleyfield area," said Serge Lemieux, Vice-President, Newspaper Division, Québec and Ontario, TC Media.

Tout Magazine changes name to Tout Express
Published since 2004, Tout Magazine has changed over the years from a monthly to a semi-monthly and now to a weekly paper; throughout that time it has been printed and distributed by TC Media. To better reflect its new role as a weekly paper, Tout Magazine is changing its name to Tout Express. Like other TC Media publications, Tout Express is an expression of the community it serves and provides high quality regional information. TC Media will be working with the current staff to continue the activities of Tout Express and Annie-Julie Ste-Marie will remain as publisher.

Michel Ste-Marie, owner, and his associates said they are pleased with the transaction. Mr. Ste-Marie noted that "it is with great pride that my team and I are joining the TC Transcontinental family, with whom we have always shared a business relation based on respect and trust. This is a new challenge for us, a challenge that we'll be taking on with enthusiasm."

Launch of Valleyfield Express.ca
The Valleyfield Express.ca, which was launched in December 2011, serves the towns of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Grande-île, Saint-Thimothée, Notre-Dame-du-Sourire, Ormstown, Sainte-Barbe, Saint-Stanislas-de-Kostka, Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague, Cazaville, Saint-Anicet, Sainte-Agnès-de-Dundee, Huntingdon, Athelstan, Dewittville, Godmanchester, Hinchinbrook, Melocheville, Coteau-du-Lac, Saint-Zotique, Saint-Clet, Rivière-Beaudette, Saint-Polycarpe, Les Cèdres and Les Coteaux. The Valleyfield Express also has an online regional portal, the www.valleyfieldexpress.ca. Julie Voyer, who already publishes the Châteauguay Express.ca, will now also publish the Valleyfield Express.ca, with the support of about a dozen staff members.

TC Media: growing in the Montérégie 
TC Media started developing its community paper network in the Montérégie by launching the Rive-Sud Express.ca in April 2010. In the months that followed, the group successfully launched a number of other publications: the Châteauguay Express.ca, the Vallée-du-Richelieu Express.ca, the Chambly Express.ca and the Sorel-Tracy Express.ca, all distributed to households through the TC Media Publisac distribution network. It also acquired the assets of Groupe Le Canada Français which serves the St-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Granby areas. The acquisition of Tout Magazine and the launch of Valleyfield Express.ca further augment the TC Media offering in Montérégie.

The Newspaper Division in the TC Media Local Solutions Group now publishes and distributes some 3 million papers per week in Quebec.

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 approximately 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.

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Media
Katherine Chartrand
Director of Internal and External Communications
TC Media
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