Globe and Mail to publish special Sunday editions for Olympics

Posted by Savita Sauvin on February 8, 2010 at 3:27 PM

The Globe and Mail will publish three special Sunday editions for the British Columbia market to provide more coverage of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, making it the only seven-day newspaper in the region, MarketingMag reported Friday.

The special editions will be published Feb. 14, 21 and 28. They will be delivered to subscribers, sold at more than 1,000 retail outlets in Vancouver, Whistler and Victoria, and be available to the rest of Canada as an online e-edition.

The special editions will be the first time the newspaper publishes a Sunday edition in its history, Phillip Crawley, Publisher and CEO of The Globe and Mail, told Canada NewsWire Group. "Canadians will be living and breathing the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games and The Globe and Mail will be the best source for news and analysis of every event and celebration, every day of the week."

Being an 'Official National Newspaper Supplier' of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and "National Print Partner" of Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium, The Globe and Mail plans to include a dedicated daily Olympic Winter Games section in all editions across the country, in addition to breaking news coverage, commentary, images and discussion throughout the games.

"Readers will be able to follow the story of the Games seamlessly from the opening ceremonies to the closing ceremonies," Jim Jennings, the Globe's associate publisher for British Columbia, told The Canadian Press. "It also allows an opportunity for our advertisers to provide a continuous message to their clients."

Jennings said he expects an increase in readership "from an influx of international readers" and also hopes "to capture the interest of local readers."

"During the Games, I think a lot of people in B.C. will be running from point to point so the advantage of print over online is heightened," Jennings told MarketingMag. With more than 50 journalists covering the games, he said, "It will be the best news coverage available in Canada, that Globe readers are used to."

The Globe and Mail will print 60,000 copies of each edition and charge C$1.50 per copy, according to the CP. The newspaper has also been hiring more staff at its B.C. bureau the duration of the games.