Broad Street Media LLC announced today that it has acquired the intellectual property rights to Philadelphia City Paper from SB New York Inc. SB New York also owns Metro, the free daily that is distributed in New York, Philadelphia and Boston. It purchased City Paper in August 2014.
As a result of the acquisition, City Paper will cease its print publication as of Oct. 8, and its website will be consolidated with philadelphiaweekly.com, the website of Philly Weekly. Philly Weekly, the only other alternative publication in Philadelphia, was sold to R.P.M. Philly LLC earlier this year. There are several common partners in Broad Street Media and R.P.M. Philly. It is expected they will consolidate operations and incorporate the best features of City Paper into Philly Weekly.
“Several of the partners of Broad Street Media are also partners in R.P.M. Philly, which owns Philly Weekly and South Philly Review,” said Perry Corsetti, publisher with Broad Street Media. “While we respect the history Philadelphia has with City Paper, we have made a commitment to Philly Weekly that we intend to honor. It doesn’t make sense for us to compete with ourselves.”
“Philly Weekly and philadelphiaweekly.com have grown tremendously since we redesigned and revitalized them after taking over in February,” said Corsetti. “We continue to be the go-to source for the latest in food, arts, music and entertainment in Philadelphia. We’re excited to welcome City Paper readers to Philly Weekly as we continue to grow and improve the publication.”
Philadelphia City Paper was established in 1981 by Bruce Schimmel, who sold the paper in 1996 to the Rock Family. The Rock Family continued to publish it before selling it in August 2014 to SB New York.
Philly Weekly and the South Philly Review are both published weekly. Philly Weekly has circulation of 55,000; South Philly Review has circulation of 57,000. Broad Street Media also publishes the Northeast Times and Star in Northeast Philadelphia, the Midweek Wire in Bucks County, Montgomery County Living in Montgomery County, the Wire and Gloucester County Living in South New Jersey, Employment Weekly in New Jersey and Philadelphia, as well as newspapers in North New Jersey and Maryland. ull;•
