Print Vs. The Net

Exhibit A in the argument that Sun Media print newspapers tower over the Internet is a chart showing Quebecor Inc.'s 2003-2008 performance.

It was created by a reliable TSF source using Quebecor's own financials fed through Excel to see just how 'badly'' the newspaper segment was performing.

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"Although it may not be apparent from looking at the chart, the Internet/Portals segment and Interactive Technologies and Communications reported profits in all the years from 2003 to 2008," says the source. "However, they are so small in comparison to the newspaper profits that they barely register on the chart.

Very small profits for the online unit, it's true, but the cost of producing a web-page vs. producing a paper product must be far less as well. A couple more years of data will tell the story better.