Métro Média has ceased all print and digital operations after losing both external financial support and one of its biggest sources of ad revenue.

In a note on Métro’s website, president and CEO Andrew Mule cited the various hardships that have faced the media industry in recent years, but said losing distribution through Montreal’s Publisac was “a particularly devastating blow.”

In May, TC Transcontinental ended Publisac, a weekly distribution of community newspapers and flyers. This came after the City of Montreal adopted a new bylaw that ended universal distribution of advertising materials in the city, switching Montrealers from an opt-out system for flyers to an opt-in one, largely in response to public feedback about receiving unwanted flyers and the amount of waste they create.

In his note, Mule said that the company had previously begun “a major and significant digital shift,” one that it planned to “bet everything on” after print distribution ended. However, Desjardins Culture, the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, Investissement Québec and SODEC pulled their funding, due to fears in the financial industry about the viability of media. Coupled with the loss of print advertising, the company was unable to pursue its digital business plan, which included eventually forming a cooperative to be in line with its social mission.

“The fact remains that we could not suddenly suffer a devastating loss of revenue and follow an ambitious and expensive digital roadmap without external financial assistance,” Mule said. “We are, after all, a small business without funding, and the premature end of our print media has left us with no way to quickly fund our future without a significant investment.”

Métro launched as a free newspaper in Montreal in 2001; in addition to the Publisac, its biggest distribution point was in the city’s public transit stations. Métro Média was formed in 2018 after Métro and several community weeklies serving the Greater Montreal and Quebec City areas were purchased from TC Transcontinental. Those community newspapers were brought under the Métro name shortly after, with the full suite of publications getting a redesign in 2021.