Several Pennsylvania newspapers will be under new management this summer.
GateHouse Media, a behemoth conglomerate overseen by New Media Investment Group, is slated to finalize purchase of The Beaver County Times, Ellwood City Ledger, The Bucks County Courier Times, The Intelligencer (Doylestown), the Burlington County (New Jersey) Times and Calkins Digital in June.
Ogden Newspapers, controlled by Pittsburgh Pirates and Seven Springs Resort owner Robert Nutting, is expected to close on The Uniontown Herald-Standard, weekly Greene County Messenger and SWC Properties at the same time.
The deals are expected to close June 30, according to a report in The Beaver County Times. Terms were not immediately disclosed.
The Calkins family and board of directors said the decision was "extremely difficult."
Charles C. Smith, who serves on Calkin's board and is a third-generation family member, told the paper, “The sole driving factor was the economics in running a paper in today’s world.”
Ogden supports a roster of more than 40 newspapers, weeklies and magazines across the country. GateHouse publishes 130 daily newspapers and hundreds of affiliated websites and community and business publications in 36 states.
"We serve both readers and advertisers,” GateHouse CEO Kirk Davis told the Times. “The readers have our pledge to uphold the strong journalistic tradition the Calkins family has brought for 80 years. And the local business community has our pledge to bring innovative new products, particularly in the digital space, to complement the strong products already in place to reach their target audience as effectively as possible."
