Toronto Star Enters Agreement with The Onion

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - July 5, 2011) - The Onion, a popular weekly news parody publication, is finally coming to Toronto.

The Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper, has entered into an agreement with the satirical newspaper and its pop-culture sister publication, The A.V. Club, to bring the print edition to Toronto starting this fall.

Under the agreement, The Onion's popular content will be available to Toronto readers, with the Toronto Star assuming business management responsibilities, including advertising rights, sales, printing and distribution.

The deal with the Toronto Star marks the first time The Onion will be distributed outside of the United States. Currently, the print edition maintains a presence in 14 markets in the U.S., including New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Denver/Boulder, Philadelphia and Madison, Wisconsin. As in The Onion's other existing markets, the Toronto edition will feature local Toronto content within The A.V. Club.

"The Toronto Star is pleased to enter into this agreement with The Onion," said John Cruickshank, Publisher of the Star and President of Star Media Group. "It is an agreement that benefits both companies and provides the Star's business-related teams with another publication to offer to audiences in the Greater Toronto Area."

"Toronto has long been one of the Top-10 cities for The Onion's online audience," said Steve Hannah, President and CEO of Onion, Inc. "I think it's the perfect place for The Onion and A.V. Club to make their first foray outside the United States. Toronto has a tradition of great comedy as well as being a really smart, cosmopolitan city that has a natural audience for our pop culture coverage as well."

The Onion started in 1988 as a weekly newspaper at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Today, The Onion and The A.V. Club reach approximately 2 million readers in print weekly and 10 million monthly online. The Onion has produced several bestselling books as well as an award-winning web-video series called Onion News Network. The online series led to a television show on IFC by the same name, which will return for its second season this fall, and airs in Canada on SuperChannel. The Onion also recently announced a first-look, year-long television development deal with CBS Television Studios.

About the Toronto Star and thestar.com

The Toronto Star, founded in 1892, is read in print and online (thestar.com) by 3.0 million readers each week. The Toronto Star is a division of Star Media Group, which includes Toronto.com, Torstar Syndication Services, The Grid, Sway and The Canadian Immigrant. Star Media Group also includes the jointly owned Metro free daily newspapers in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Winnipeg and London, Ontario, and the Chinese language newspaper Sing Tao. Star Media Group is a division of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, which is a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation.