New Daily Paper to Be Launched in Canada

Conrad Black, whose newspaper empire extends from Chicago to London to Jerusalem, is going ahead with plans to publish a new national daily paper in Canada, his home country. Southam Inc., the Canadian newspaper group controlled by Black, said that the long-rumored venture will proceed this fall. The new paper, yet to be named, will be the third nationally circulated Canadian daily. The newspaper will be based in Toronto, the only major Canadian city that up to now had no paper controlled by Black. Between them, Southam and Black’s Hollinger Inc. own 59 of Canada’s 106 daily papers and serve 41% of Canadian newspaper readers. The new paper initially will be available in nine major cities by subscription and at newsstands. Southam estimates it will have to invest $70 million to $90 million over five to seven years to make the paper profitable.