SouthComm Expansion Taps City Paper

David M. Ross

SouthComm Communications, the Nashville-based parent company of Music Row and NashvillePost.com, has reached an agreement to purchase The City Paper and its companion Web site nashvillecitypaper.com. City Paper Publisher Albie Del Favero announced that under the new arrangement, Nashville’s free, five-day-a-week daily newspaper, will begin publishing a print version on Mondays and Fridays only, beginning April 28.

“At the conclusion of our recent strategic planning process, we made the decision that it was time for The City Paper to expand its scope from solely publishing a newspaper to becoming a company that publishes a local paper and delivers daily news and information online,” said Del Favero. “The sale to SouthComm accelerates our intentions. Our business must make the transition to digital content and delivery to thrive in the future.” The move echoes the fact that newspapers nationwide are struggling under the economic strain of rising distribution, and print costs.

“SouthComm Communications is built on the premise that Americans increasingly want their daily news delivered online,” said SouthComm Chief Executive Officer Chris Ferrell. “The future of print is in high quality, intelligent, niche products that come out on a less-frequent basis, but provide more in-depth news and information for people to read.”

City Paper’s De Thompson V will join the SouthComm Board of Directors and become an investor in the enterprise. CP Publisher Del Favero and Executive Editor Clint Brewer will remain in their current positions.

Earlier this week SouthComm announced its purchase of monthly BusinessTN and intentions to start a new women’s magazine, Her Nashville. “SouthComm is acquiring and creating a suite of niche publications that we hope will be interesting and informative to Nashville-area readers,” said Ferrell. “With our announcements this week, we are beginning to realize our vision of the next-generation publishing company.”