Rogers Communications Inc. is becoming an equal partner in a joint venture that’s commercializing TOPS, the online publishing system used to run a number of websites owned by Torstar Corp.
Financial terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed by the two Toronto-based media companies.
The system has been used for more than four years by TheStar.com, the Internet edition of Torstar’s flagship newspaper. It’s also used for Toronto.com and news sites for Torstar’s Metroland Media papers and Metro News of Canada, which produces free commuter papers.
“We have been working with the TOPS platform for a year to great success,” said Claude Galipeau, senior vice-president and general manager for digital media at Rogers Media.
Rogers web properties like Citytv.com, Flare.com and 680News.com have been using the Total Online Publishing Solutions system since last year.
“TOPS has vastly improved the publishing power of our journalists and editors, our search engine performance, and our speed to market,” Galipeau said.
“This investment allows Rogers to co-develop a best-of-breed content management platform, and accelerate its adoption for our brands.”
Danny Galic, the chief technology officer and general manager of TOPS, said the system allows publishers to decide what they want from their online sites without the need to buy software and hardware or hire people.
“Our value proposition to publishers is that we can build the site you want quickly and then operate, maintain and improve it for you, with world-class features at very low expense,” Galic said.
