Ottaway Community Newspapers
1014766
205062527
2008-04-12T03:44:55Z
98.15.223.119
{{Infobox Company
|name = Ottaway Community Newspapers
|company_logo =
|type = Subsidiary
|foundation = November 1936
|location = [[Hamptonburgh, New York|Campbell Hall, New York]] <br/>{{USA}}
|locations =
|key_people = John N. Wilcox, [[Chairman of the board|COB]] and [[CEO]] <br/> Andrew Langhoff, [[Vice president|senior VP]] <br/> William A. Zurilla, [[Vice president|VP]] and [[Chief financial officer|CFO]]
|area_served =
|industry =
|products = [[Daily newspaper|Daily]] and [[weekly newspaper]]s
|services =
|revenue =
|operating_income =
|net_income =
|num_employees = 1,500 in 2007
|parent = [[Dow Jones & Company|Dow Jones]], 1970-2007<br/>[[News Corporation]], since 2007
|divisions =
|subsid =
|slogan =
|homepage = [http://www.ottaway.com/ Ottaway.com]
|footnotes =
|intl =
}}
'''Ottaway Community Newspapers''' (also called '''Ottaway Newspapers, Inc.''') is a subsidiary of [[News Corporation]] and owns newspapers, Web sites and niche publications in [[California]], [[Maine]], [[Massachusetts]], [[New Hampshire]], [[New York]], [[Oregon]] and [[Pennsylvania]]. It is headquartered in [[Hamptonburgh, New York|Campbell Hall, New York]] and its flagship is the [[Times Herald-Record]].
The Ottaway organization was founded in 1936 and grew to nine newspapers in the northeastern [[United States]] by 1970, when it merged with [[Dow Jones & Company]], publisher of ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]''.<ref name="Media">[http://www.dowjones.com/Products_Services/CommunityMedia.htm DowJones.com Community Media], accessed [[January 8]], [[2007]].</ref>
Ottaway became part of News Corp. when it bought Dow Jones for [[US$]]5 billion in in late 2007. [[Rupert Murdoch]], the head of News Corp., reportedly told investors before the deal that he would be "selling the local newspapers fairly quickly" after the Dow Jones purchase.<ref name="NEPA">"Ottaway Papers Might Be Sold, Including 16 in N.E.". [http://www.nepa.org/Bulletin%20Archives/NEPA_Bulletin_Dec07.pdf ''NEPA Bulletin'' (Boston, Mass.), December 2007], page 3.</ref>
== Holdings ==
Ottaway currently publishes eight daily and 15 weekly newspapers in seven [[U.S.]] states. Ottaway's circulation was given in 2005 as 282,000 daily, 316,000 Sunday and 119,000 daily unique visitors on newspaper Internet sites.<ref name="Jones">"Dow Jones Completes Sale of Six Local Newspapers." Dow Jones & Company press release, [[December 5]], [[2006]].</ref>
Ottaway's daily newspapers are:
* ''[[Ashland Daily Tidings]]'' of [[Ashland, Oregon]]
* ''[[Cape Cod Times]]'' of [[Barnstable, Massachusetts]]
* ''[[Mail Tribune]]'' of [[Medford, Oregon]]
* ''[[Pocono Record]]'' of [[Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania]]
* ''[[The Portsmouth Herald]]'' of [[Portsmouth, New Hampshire]]
* ''[[The Record (Stockton)|The Record]]'' of [[Stockton, California]]
* ''[[The Standard-Times (New Bedford)|The Standard-Times]]'' of [[New Bedford, Massachusetts]]
* ''[[Times Herald-Record]]'' of [[Middletown, New York]]
Ottaway weekly and twice-weekly newspapers include the following:
* ''[[The Barnstable Patriot]]'' of [[Barnstable, Massachusetts]]
* ''[[The Inquirer & Mirror]]'' of [[Nantucket, Massachusetts]]
* [[Hathaway Publishing]], published alongside ''The Standard-Times'':
** ''[[The Advocate (Fairhaven)|The Advocate]]'' of [[Fairhaven, Massachusetts]]
** ''[[The Chronicle (Dartmouth)|The Chronicle]]'' of [[Dartmouth, Massachusetts]]
** ''[[The Fall River Spirit]]'' of [[Fall River, Massachusetts]]
** ''[[Middleboro Gazette]]'' of [[Middleborough, Massachusetts]]
** ''[[The Spectator (Somerset)|The Spectator]]'' of [[Somerset, Massachusetts]]
* [[Seacoast Media Group]], published alongside ''The Portsmouth Herald'':
** ''[[The Exeter News-Letter]]'' of [[Exeter, New Hampshire]] (twice-weekly)
** ''[[The Hampton Union]]'' of [[Hampton, New Hampshire]] (twice-weekly)
** ''[[The Rockingham News]]'' of [[Plaistow, New Hampshire]]
** ''[[York County Coast Star]]'' of [[Kennebunk, Maine]]
** ''[[The York Weekly]]'' of [[York, Maine]]
* Hudson Valley Media Group, published alongside the ''Times Herald-Record'':
** ''[[The Gazette]]'' of [[Port Jervis, New York]]
== History ==
James H. Ottaway, Sr., founded the company in November [[1936]], when he purchased the ''Bulletin'', a semi-weekly paper in [[Endicott, New York]], that he converted to a daily within a year. Ottaway added the ''[[The Daily Star (Oneonta)|Oneonta Star]]'' in 1944, followed two years later by the ''[[Pocono Record]]''.<ref name="Media"/>
The company has been a seller more often than a buyer in the 2000s, however, and several observers -- including the ''New York Post'', ''The Boston Globe'' and Ottaway's own ''Cape Cod Times'' -- have speculated that News Corporation intends to sell all or part of the company in the near future.<ref name="NEPA"/>
Under Dow Jones' ownership, Ottaway sold several newspapers in recent years, however, most recently in December [[2006]], when the company dealt nearly half its daily newspapers to [[Community Newspaper Holdings]] Inc. (CNHI) for $287.9 million (including real estate).<ref name="Jones" />
Until December 2006, the following dailies and weeklies were also part of the Ottaway chain. They are all now part of CNHI.<ref name="Jones" />
* ''[[Santa Cruz Sentinel]]'' daily of [[Santa Cruz, California]]
* ''[[The News-Times]]'' daily of [[Danbury, Connecticut]]
* ''[[The Spectrum]]'' weekly of [[Milford, Connecticut]]
* ''[[Record-Eagle]]'' daily of [[Traverse City, Michigan]]
* ''[[The Grand Traverse Herald]]'' weekly of [[Traverse City, Michigan]]
* ''[[Cooperstown Crier]]'' weekly of [[Cooperstown, New York]]
* ''[[Daily Star (Oneonta)|Daily Star]]'' of [[Oneonta, New York]]
* ''[[Press-Republican]]'' of [[Plattsburgh, New York]]
* ''[[Daily Item]]'' of [[Sunbury, Pennsylvania]]
* ''[[The Danville News]]'' weekly of [[Danville, Pennsylvania]]
The following four daily newspapers were sold by Ottaway to CNHI for $182 million in 2002:<ref>"[http://www.writenews.com/2002/022202_dowjones_sells_four_papers.htm Dow Jones To Sell Four Ottaway Newspapers]", accessed [[January 8]], [[2007]].</ref>
* ''[[The Daily Independent]]'' of [[Ashland, Kentucky]]
* ''[[The Free Press (Mankato)|The Free Press]]'' of [[Mankato, Minnesota]]
* ''[[The Herald (Sharon)|The Herald]]'' of [[Sharon, Pennsylvania]]
* ''[[The Joplin Globe]]'' of [[Joplin, Missouri]]
Also, Ottaway sold the three daily newspapers of Essex County Newspapers Inc. to ''[[The Eagle-Tribune]]'' of [[North Andover, Massachusetts]], in 2002, for $70 million.<ref>[http://www.allbusiness.com/information/information-services-news-syndicates/209484-1.html "Bay State Paper Gets to Grow in Its Own Backyard"]. NewsInc, [[April 22]], [[2002]]. Accessed [[January 8]], [[2006]].</ref> ''The Eagle-Tribune'', along with the Essex papers listed below, was later purchased by CNHI.
* ''[[Daily News of Newburyport]]'' of [[Newburyport, Massachusetts]]
* ''[[Gloucester Daily Times]]'' of [[Gloucester, Massachusetts]]
* ''[[Salem News|Salem Evening News]]'' of [[Salem, Massachusetts]]
==External links==
* [http://www.ottaway.com/ Ottaway Newspapers, Inc.]
== Footnotes ==
{{reflist}}
{{News Corporation}}
[[Category:Ottaway Community Newspapers| ]]
[[Category:Companies based in Orange County, New York]]