Montreal and Vancouver, September 16, 2008 – Transcontinental Media, one of Canada's leading publishers of community newspapers, announced today that it is working with NewspaperDirect to migrate its newspapers to digital editions as part of its ongoing online strategy and the company's commitment to implement technology that makes life easier for its customers.

Twelve Transcontinental publications have been released as full-featured digital editions, including The Journal-Pioneer, The Western Star, The Guardian, La Nouvelle Union and The Telegram, with plans to roll out the remaining titles over the next few months.

"We researched a number of the available digital edition solutions in the market and NewspaperDirect's technology demonstrated that it was most leading edge and fitting for our needs," said Marc-Noël Ouellette, Senior Vice President, Newspaper Group, Transcontinental Media. "As part of Transcontinental's online strategy, partnering with this niche-based company was very inline with our growth objectives."

With over 170 papers across Canada, including a dozen dailies, Transcontinental reaches, on average, three million readers a week, making it a leading source of information and news in both English and French-speaking communities. This innovative new product addition will give readers an interactive and user-friendly way to enjoy their papers while still maintaining that newspaper look and feel.

"Transcontinental has always been a model company in terms of its respect for the environment," said Alexander Kroogman, CEO, NewspaperDirect. "We are proud to work with them in the migration of their newspapers to digital, which will not only serve the long-term interests of its readers; it will open opportunities for new revenue streams for the company and its advertising partners."

The new editions can be accessed from any web browser and will give subscribers instant access to a digital replica of the full printed editions of the newspapers, (on PCs, Macs, smartphones, iPhones, and Blackberry and iPod Touch devices), often before they hit the newsstands. For advertisers, it means that their print ads will also be online and will give them the ability to have more options to enhance and make their advertisements more interactive for readers.

Advanced digital features enabled by SmartEdition technology include: easy-to-use navigation tools, powerful keyword searching, media monitoring with email notification, article sharing, a one-click 'add to my blog' feature, instant translation in up to 12 languages, integrated audio, back-issue access, photo galleries, social media integration and NewspaperDirect's proprietary reader commenting and community features.