Metro Launches in Toronto

Posted on June 30, 2000

The publication of the free daily newspaper, Metro, has commenced in Toronto. Canada is the eleventh country in the world where the paper will be read. The launch in Toronto consolidates Metro on the North American market, where the paper is already established in Philadelphia. In Toronto, an agreement has been entered into with Gateway Newsstands, which owns the exclusive rights to newspaper sales in the subway system - operated by Toronto Transit Commission - as well as the commuter rail network, run by GO Transit. The Toronto circulation will initially be between 150,000 and 200,000 copies of Metro. Modern Times Group (MTG) is the parent company of Metro.

Metro's publication commenced in Stockholm five years ago. Internationalisation began in 1997 with the launch in Prague. In 1998, Budapest was added. In Sweden, Stockholm has since been joined by Gothenburg and the Malmö region. Helsinki is now a Metro city, and the newspaper also keeps commuters informed in a total of eight Dutch cities. This year has seen the real expansion for Metro, with its publication in Santiago in Chile, Philadelphia in the US, Newcastle in the UK and Zurich in Switzerland. It has also been announced that the paper will be launched in Rome later in the summer.