National Post axes weekday edition in Manitoba, Saskatchewan
Last Updated: Thursday, October 30, 2008 | 9:48 AM CT
CBC News
The Winnipeg Free Press has returned to doorsteps and newspaper boxes after a 16-day strike ended earlier this week, but the National Post won't be showing up alongside it.
The Post is printed by the Free Press for circulation in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, but the national paper's owner, Winnipeg's David Asper, has decided to cut the paper's availability in the two provinces.
Home delivery is being eliminated, as are print editions of the paper on weekdays. The printed version of the paper will only be available in stores on Saturdays in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Asper said.
"We were losing money distributing the paper for home delivery," Asper told CBC News on Thursday morning. "At the same time, our readers have been telling us — and we can see it in the numbers in the online usage of the product — that they're using the online version."
Subscribers will be able to get the full digital edition of the paper at a special rate, Asper said.
"The growth of the online world suggests to us that's where this industry is headed," he said. "I think we've done quite a remarkable job in converting the paper to a digital edition and I think it … continues to offer our readers a full product, just by way of a different medium."
As part of a "unique arrangement" with The Winnipeg Free Press, the local paper will carry some of the National Post's business section, the Financial Post, and will also have access to the National Post's news service and its columnists' work, Asper said.
Asper said there are no plans to shut down the paper, and the move to end Monday-to-Friday distribution in Manitoba and Saskatchewan is part of the company's move toward profitability.
The National Post halted home delivery in Atlantic Canada a year ago.
