River Media
 | |
| Type | Privately held |
|---|---|
| Industry | Media |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Headquarters | Letterkenny, Ireland |
| Key people |
Padraig O'Dwyer, Tim Collins, Jim Fitzpatrick |
| Products | Newspapers and radio |
| Website | http://www.rivermedia.ie/ |
River Media is an Irish-based media group. Operating a chain of six weekly newspapers and six radio stations, the firm also owns Strawberry Media, an in-house advertising agency, specialising in graphic design, public relations and website development. Founded in 2005 by the The Irish News and media veterans Padraig O'Dwyer, Tim Collins and Jim Fitzpatrick, River Media is based in Letterkenny, Donegal.
Print history
From its formation, the group expanded rapidly and at its peak operated twelve local newspaper titles, most of them located in the northwest of Ireland. However, the group has since contracted and it now publishes six titles. The papers purchased or founded by the company are all full-colour tabloid format targeting the 20-50 age bracket.[1] The company's titles were Cavan Post, County Derry Post, Derry News, Donegal Post, Finn Valley Post, Inish Times, Kildare Post, Letterkenny Post, Meath Post, Monaghan Post, Sligo Post and Wicklow News.
The Leitrim Post, a previously published title, ceased publication in 2009 due to poor sales figures.[2] The Meath Post, Cavan Post and Sligo Post all ceased publication in 2010 due to poor advertising sales, with the company saying that it was going to invest its resources in its remaining six newspapers. Twenty jobs were lost with the closure of those loss-making titles.[3] River Media's 2008 accounts, filed in August 2010, revealed a loss of €3.3 million in 2008. The accounts also revealed the company owed creditors €6.9 million on current assets of €6.5 million.[4] Its 2009 accounts showed losses of €8.2 million with the company's auditors casting doubt on the group's ability to continue as a going concern.[5] Staff numbers also fell from 200 to around 70, and the accounts revealed accumulated losses of more than €5 million and a deficit in reserves of €3.5 million.
On Friday 9 September 2011, River Newspapers Holdings, which owns River Media, filed for receivership.[6]
Radio history
River Media expanded into the broadcast sector of the media industry, taking ownership of Irish local radio stations Ocean FM and Kfm.[7]
It is also a stakeholder in several Northern Irish stations through the Northern Media Group (a consortium that includes The Irish News and the Alpha Newspaper Group), who own Five FM, Six FM, Seven FM, Q97.2, Q101.2 and Q102.9.[8]
References
- ↑ "Welcome to RiverMedia.ie". River Media. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
- ↑ "Leitrim Post to close", RTÉ, 6 May 2009.
- ↑ "20 jobs lost in newspaper closures", RTÉ, 8 June 2010.
- ↑ Flanagan, Peter. "Publishing group loses €3.3m in wake of recession", Irish Independent, 16 August 2010.
- ↑ "River Newspapers in profit after posting loss of €8m in 2009", The Irish Times, 22 January 2011.
- ↑ "Company Search", Companies Registry Ireland.
- ↑ Profile of company, The Sunday Business Post.
- ↑ "Sharegolders", Northern Media Group.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
