Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail Form Joint Distribution Partnership in Ontario

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - April 26, 2012) - The Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail announced today they have formed a new partnership to distribute newspapers and other print publications in Ontario.

The partnership will deliver both the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail to homes, businesses and retail outlets in Ontario. The partnership will also be able to distribute other newspapers and third-party products. The partnership has been formed to contain overall costs by capitalizing on economies of scale, leverage best practices of both organizations and create more efficient distribution operations.

The Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail will continue to operate separately in all other aspects of their businesses, including editorial, advertising, sales, production and other products.

"We are very happy with the new joint venture with The Globe and Mail," said John Cruickshank, Publisher of the Toronto Star and President of Star Media Group. "It will allow both the Star and The Globe to bring together our distribution operations, resulting in savings for both companies and better service for our readers and advertisers."

"This partnership allows The Globe and Mail to benefit from blended operational best practices while still maintaining a direct and independent relationship with our valued subscribers and readers," said Phillip Crawley, Publisher and CEO of The Globe and Mail. "As our industry faces the reality of increasing distribution costs, this partnership model allows us to potentially expand our distribution footprint and implement consistent service standards across Ontario."

About the Toronto Star

The Toronto Star, founded in 1892, is read in print and online (thestar.com) by 3.1 million readers every week. The Toronto Star is a division of Star Media Group, which includes Toronto.com, Torstar Syndication Services, The Grid, Sway Magazine and The Canadian Immigrant. Star Media Group also includes the jointly owned Chinese language newspaper Sing Tao and a 90% interest in the English-language Metro free daily newspapers in several Canadian cities. Star Media Group is a division of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, which is a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation.

About The Globe and Mail

The Globe and Mail, founded in 1844, reaches 5.7 million readers every month. The Globe and Mail newspaper is printed at facilities in the Greater Toronto Area, Vancouver, Calgary, Estevan (SK), Montreal and Halifax. The Globe and Mail Inc. is a privately owned company.

Forward-looking statements

Certain statements in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements that reflect management's expectations regarding the Toronto Star's, The Globe's and the joint distribution partnership's (collectively, the "parties") future growth, financial performance and business prospects and opportunities as of the date of this press release. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "forecast", "expect", "intend", "would", "could", "if", "may" and similar expressions. All such statements are made pursuant to the "safe harbour" provisions of applicable Canadian securities legislation. These statements reflect current expectations of management regarding future events and operating performance, and speak only as of the date of this release. In addition, forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about management's current expectations and plans relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes.

By their very nature, forward-looking statements require management to make assumptions and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. There is a significant risk that predictions, forecasts, conclusions or projections will not prove to be accurate, that management's assumptions may not be accurate and that actual results, performance or achievements may differ significantly from such predictions, forecasts, conclusions or projections expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements in this press release as a number of factors could cause actual future results, conditions, actions or events to differ materially from the targets, outlooks, expectations, goals, estimates or intentions expressed in the forward-looking statements.

These factors include, but are not limited to: the parties' ability to operate in highly competitive industries; the parties' ability to compete with other forms of media and media platforms; general economic conditions in the principal markets in which the parties operate; the Toronto Star's and The Globe's ability to attract and retain advertisers, attract and retain readers, retain and grow their digital audience and profitably develop their digital businesses; labour disruptions; newsprint costs; the Toronto Star's and The Globe's ability to reduce costs through the partnership; and reliance on technology and information systems.

We caution that the foregoing list is not exhaustive of all possible factors, as other factors could adversely affect the Toronto Star's and The Globe's results.

In addition, a number of assumptions, including those assumptions specifically identified throughout this press release, were applied in making the forward-looking statements set forth in this press release. Some of the key assumptions include, without limitation, assumptions regarding the performance of the North American economy; tax laws; market competition; and expected future revenues, expected future cash flows and discount rates relating to valuation of goodwill and intangible assets. There is a risk that some or all of these assumptions may prove to be incorrect.

When relying on our forward-looking statements to make decisions with respect to Torstar Corporation and its securities, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. Torstar Corporation, The Toronto Star and The Globe do not intend, and disclaims any obligation to, update any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, or whether as a result of new information or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

For more information, please see the discussion of risks affecting Torstar Corporation and its businesses in Torstar's 2011 Management's Discussion & Analysis which has been filed on www.sedar.com and is available on Torstar's corporate website www.torstar.com.