By: Tony Case Three Titles Go To West Coast Publisher
(Mediaweek) Thomson Corp. said late Thursday it has agreed to sell three Arizona dailies to closely held Freedom Communications Inc., publisher of the Orange County Register and Colorado Springs Gazette.
The deal, price undisclosed, includes The Tribune in suburban Phoenix, the Daily News-Sun in Sun City, the Yuma Daily Sun ? total daily circulation about 130,000 ? and several non-dailies.
It was the second newspaper deal for the burgeoning Phoenix market in as many days. The country's biggest newspaper publisher, Gannett Co., on Wednesday announced an agreement to buy Arizona Republic parent Central Newspapers Inc. for $2.6 billion.
The acquisition strengthens Freedom's presence in the West. Aside from the Register and four other dailies in California, Freedom owns four dailies in Texas and one in New Mexico, along with several weeklies in all three states. Earlier this month, it added three weeklies, with a combined circulation of 102,000, in Orange County.
Toronto-based Thomson, which is shedding nearly all its newspapers to focus on electronic media, has only the Bridgeport Post in Connecticut and five Canadian papers still on the block.
Last week, Thomson agreed to sell its Florida Keys papers, led by the daily Key West Citizen, to privately held Cooke Communications. In sales returning over $2 billion to Thomson, other papers have been snapped up by Gannett, Media General, Copley Press, and Community Newspaper Holdings.
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