Metroland Media Group, a sister company of the Toronto Star, both owned by Nordstar announced some devastating news late Friday afternoon.  As the media industry continues to struggle with monetizing print publications the local community newspaper company announced they sought bankruptcy protection and will cease the print publication of its newspapers across Ontario, moving to an online-only model.  The company also announced it will laying off two-thirds of its workforce or about 605 staff.

Back in July, the merger talks between Toronto Star And Postmedia came to a sudden end with no transparent explanation as to the reasoning by either party, but clearly, finance was a key issue.

Like many Canadian media outlets, the Toronto Star has become very disappointed by the actions of Facebook and Google to block links on their respective platforms.  Each is hoping that Bill C-18 will have some magical impact, however, the reality is consumers moved online over a decade ago.  Metroland Media Group’s move to cut print publications comes a few years too late and now cost too many people their jobs.