Canadian news service to seek profits

The Canadian Press (CP), the newswire service that has been coping with mounting financial challenges, may switch from being a not-for-profit industry co-operative into a profit-seeking business. Under a tentative deal that requires government approval, the CP would be owned by its three largest current members: CTVglobemedia , which owns the Globe & Mail ; Torstar Corp ( Toronto Star publisher); and Gesca ( La Presse ). The service, which began as a way to distribute reports from the front line back to Canada during the first world war, has since stitched the country together by distributing news from the smallest communities to the largest cities. Financial difficulties in recent years, created in part when members of the co-op dropped out, led to discussions about restructuring so that the service wasn't dependent on member contributions for its operating costs. Source: Globe & Mail