If you can’t beat them, join them, was the moral of the story when The Toronto Star announced its partnership with Toronto 1 earlier this month – a strategic alliance through which the daily paper and Toronto’s newest TV station will team up on reporting, advertising and marketing.

The broadsheet’s parent, Torstar Corp., was among the companies that vigorously opposed T1’s licence application.

Star reporters will contribute stories to T1’s morning show, Toronto Today, and its flagship news magazine, Toronto Tonight. The two shops will also team up to cover major news events, such as the upcoming mayoral election.

Torstar, which also owns the infomercial channel ShopTV Canada and the Harlequin line of romance novels, has long sought a bigger slice of the TV pie in Toronto.

‘I think together we can make a difference in this market,’ says publisher John Honderich. ‘We’re very excited to be involved with this new venture and to be part of generating some much-needed local programming.’