Rogers buys 50% of TOPS, Torstar's online publishing system

Rogers Communications is becoming an equal partner in the online publishing system that was developed by Torstar Corp. and is used by some Rogers-owned magazine, TV and radio operations.

According to a story on The Canadian Press, TOPS has been used for four years to publish TheStar.com, the internet edition of the newspaper, as well as for Toronto.com and the news sites of Metroland Media community papers and Metro News.

"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.

Citytv.com, Flare.com and 680News.com, which are the Internet affiliates of Rogers-owned television, magazine and radio operations respectively, 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."

Aside from the all-but-impenetrable phrase "best-of-breed content management platform", the deal is yet one more example of the convergence of interests between the larger publishing companies.