Newspaper chains buy, sell titles including Vancouver’s the Westender

VANCOUVER – The owners of two community-newspaper chains in British Columbia have agreed to swap six publications that serve more than 190,000 residents of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.

Black Press Ltd. announced on Twitter it will buy the Abbotsford-Mission Times and the Chilliwack Times from the Glacier Newspaper Group.

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Black will also sell to Glacier the North Shore Outlook, the Westender, Bowen Island Undercurrent and the South Delta Leader in a deal that’s expected to close before Dec. 31.

Each chain already operates a competing newspaper in the communities effected, except for Bowen Island where the Undercurrent is the only publication.

Black Press president and CEO Rick O’Connor wouldn’t reveal how much the deal is worth or if the company would be closing down the competing publications in five of the six communities.

But O’Connor says the company operates two papers each in the communities of Cranbrook, B.C., Salmon Arm, and Red Deer, Alta.