Village Media is a Canadian media company, which operates a number of

hyperlocal Hyperlocal is information oriented around a well-defined community with its primary focus directed toward the concerns of the population in that community. The term can be used as a noun in isolation or as a modifier of some other term (e.g. new ...

online news and community websites throughout

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

."Media outlets partner to expand Northern news network"
''Northern Ontario Business'', October 2, 2014. Village Media's news sites focus on providing local stories written by local journalists in the communities that they serve. 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, including '' TBNewswatch.com'' in

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population ...

and ''Manitoulin.ca'' on

Manitoulin Island Manitoulin Island is an island in Lake Huron, located within the borders of the Canadian province of Ontario, in the bioregion known as Laurentia. With an area of , it is the largest lake island in the world, large enough that it has over 100 ...

. Village Media was also a partner with the defunct '' LocalXpress'' in Halifax, providing them the publication platform.

History

SooToday.com was originally launched in 2000 as a regional tabloid shopping and business directory,"Sootoday.com a hit". ''Northern Ontario Business'', April 1, 2004. owned by former broadcaster Dick Peplow. 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 focused news content. In doing so, they became one of the first prominent Canadian ventures in hyperlocal web-only media. Peplow launched sister site BayToday.ca in 2003. Following Peplow's death in 2007,"Peplow left a legacy"
''

Northern News Services NNSL Media (Northern News Services LTD) is a news and media company based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. It is one of the few remaining independent newspaper companies in Canada, producing all-original content with little to no reliance ...

'', July 18, 2007. 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. 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."Village Media expands to Orillia"
''Northern Life'', January 4, 2018. It launched BarrieToday.com in October 2015 in

Barrie Barrie is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay, the western arm of Lake Simcoe. Although physically in Simcoe County, Barrie is politically i ...

, GuelphToday.com in February 2016 in

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...

,"Village Media rushes to fill local news void left by Guelph Mercury"
''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', February 7, 2016. and OrilliaMatters.com in

Orillia Orillia is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is in Simcoe County between Lake Couchiching and Lake Simcoe. Although it is geographically located within Simcoe County, the city is a single-tier municipality. It is part of the Huronia region of Cent ...

in 2018. Village Media also operates HalifaxToday.ca in Halifax, OttawaMatters.com in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

and KitchenerToday.com in Kitchener, in conjunction with

Rogers Radio Rogers Radio is a division of Rogers Sports & Media (a subsidiary of Rogers Communications) that specializes in the radio broadcasting industry. Rogers Radio is Canada's third-largest radio broadcaster (after Bell Media Radio and Stingray Group) ...

-owned news radio stations in those markets.

Assets owned by Village Media

Based in Sault Ste. Marie,

, the company's properties include the internet news sites SooToday.com in Sault Ste. Marie, BayToday.com in North Bay, BarrieToday.com in

, GuelphToday.com in

, TimminsToday.com in

Timmins Timmins ( ) is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada, located on the Mattagami River. The city is the fourth-largest city in the Northeastern Ontario region with a population of 41,145 (2021). The city's economy is based on natural resource ext ...

, ElliotLakeToday.com in

Elliot Lake Elliot Lake is a city in Algoma District, Ontario, Canada. It is north of Lake Huron, midway between the cities of Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie in the Northern Ontario region. Once dubbed the "uranium capital of the world," Elliot Lake has since ...

, OrilliaMatters.com in

, CollingwoodToday.ca in Collingwood, BradfordToday.ca in

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

, NewmarketToday.ca in Newmarket, and Sudbury.com in

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes) ** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal e ...

. It has also partnered with Rogers Radio to create OttawaMatters.com in

, HalifaxToday.ca in Halifax and KitchenerMatters.com in Kitchener. Village Media also partnered with McClatchy and a number of sites in the United States modeled after ''SooToday'' were rolled out in mid-2019. MidlandToday.ca covering

Midland, Ontario Midland is a town located on Georgian Bay in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. It is part of the Huronia/Wendat region of Central Ontario. Located at the southern end of Georgian Bay's 30,000 Islands, Midland is the economic centre of the region, ...

is set to launch in February 2020. In 2020, the company acquired the assets of

Laurentian Media Group Laurentian Media Group was a Canadian newspaper and magazine publishing company. Founded in 1973 by Michael Atkins,C.M. Wallace and Ashley Thomson, ''Sudbury: Rail Town to Regional Capital''. Dundurn Press, 1993. . Laurentian published several title ...

, including the Sudbury.com news website and the business magazine ''Northern Ontario Business''. Village Media ceased publication of Laurentian's twice-weekly print newspaper ''Northern 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 of ''The Longmont Leader'' in

Longmont, Colorado The City of Longmont is a home rule municipality located in Boulder and Weld counties, Colorado, United States. Longmont is located northeast of the county seat of Boulder and north-northwest of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. Longmont ...

. The company formerly operated the video news portal local2.ca in Sault Ste. Marie, and the VM Radio network of

internet radio Online radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio, IP radio, Internet radio) is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted ...

streams. Local2 was fully integrated into SooToday."SooToday will now be home to all the great programming from LOCAL2"
''Soo Today'', April 8, 2016. VM Radio was shut down.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.villagemedia.ca/ Mass media in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Internet properties established in 2000 Canadian news websites 2000 establishments in Ontario Internet radio in Canada Newspaper companies of Canada Companies based in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario