Quebec publication gears up to wind down print business

Quebec publication Le Soleil expects to cease its print operations in the next few years, according to president and CEO of Groupe Capitales Médias.

Speaking with Media in Canada, Claude Gagnon says the publication doesn’t know exactly when Le Soleil will cease printing, but predicts it will be within the next five to 10 years.

He says the decision is a result of decreasing print subscribers.

“The level of subscribers [has decreased] slowly, and we believe in a few years we will not have any subscribers to keep distributing the newspaper door-to-door.”

He does, however, see hope in digital, for which Groupe Capitales Médias’ six publications have a cumulative 2.1 million online readers and 700,000 print readers. Gagnon says the current focus is on increasing its online readership.

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