Star Local Media

What Star Local Media does

Star Local Media is a privately-held local news media company headquartered in Plano, Texas, operating a portfolio of 15 wholly-owned community newspaper brands across the North Texas (Dallas-Fort Worth) suburbs, including the Allen American, Plano Star Courier, McKinney Courier-Gazette, Frisco Enterprise, Flower Mound Leader, Lewisville Leader, Coppell Gazette, Carrollton Leader, Celina Record, Little Elm Journal, Lake Cities Sun, Mesquite News, Rowlett Lakeshore Times, The Colony Courier Leader, and the recently added Check Out Prosper. Founded in 1994 and employing 51–100 people, the company publishes hyperlocal news, high school sports coverage, community events, obituaries, and public notices for each municipality, with distribution via print home delivery, single-copy locations, per-community websites, e-Editions, and 15+ dedicated email newsletters.

The company’s core technology platform is the third-party BLOX Content Management System from BLOX Digital, which powers all community sub-sites under the starlocalmedia.com domain; the company itself operates no proprietary CMS, public API, or AI/ML capabilities. Its product portfolio extends beyond news publishing into Star Local Jobs (a dedicated job board at starlocaljobs.com), Classifieds, Public Notices (powered by Column at starlocalnews.column.us), Obituaries (integrated with legacy.com), Star Savings deals, Best of Contests, Podcasts, and a Real Estate channel (via AddressNTX).

The business model is multi-revenue-stream: paid subscriptions (print home delivery and digital e-edition, priced per individual title), display and classified advertising sold to local SMBs, public-notice publication mandated by Texas legal statute, recruitment advertising on the job board, sponsored content, and promotional placements through Star Savings. Customer segments are North Texas community residents (subscribers/readers), local businesses (advertisers), and employers/job seekers. Rick Rogers is listed as President and CEO. The company is independent with no parent, no private equity sponsor identified, no disclosed funding rounds, and no public listing.

Name

Star Local Media

Legal name

Star Local Media

Website

https://starlocalmedia.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Star Local Media is a privately-held North Texas community newspaper company operating 15 wholly-owned local titles and digital sub-brands (e.g., Allen American, Plano Star Courier, McKinney Courier-Gazette) serving DFW suburban residents and local business advertisers with news, sports, public notices, and recruitment content.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local Newspaper Publishing

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (513110)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro primary industry

Local & Regional Newspapers (Print & Digital) (MPAJADAB)

Keywords

• Community newspaper publishing
• Local news media
• Hyperlocal journalism
• Digital advertising services
• Subscription publishing

Headquarters

HQ city

Plano

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Star Local Media operates a network of community newspapers across 14+ North Texas cities, publishing hyperlocal news, high school sports, local government coverage, obituaries, community events, and lifestyle content. The company sells paid subscriptions for print and digital (e-Edition) access, sells display and classified advertising to local businesses, and runs ancillary services including public notice placement, a local job board (Star Local Jobs), community newsletters, podcasts, and a deals platform (Star Savings).

Product overview

Star Local Media is a local media publishing network operating as a collection of 15+ community newspaper sub-brands across North Texas communities (Allen, Carrollton, Celina, Coppell, Flower Mound, Frisco, Lake Cities, Lewisville, Little Elm, McKinney, Mesquite, Plano, Prosper, Rowlett, The Colony). The portfolio includes local community newspapers and their digital platforms providing news, sports, events coverage, and lifestyle content. The core offering is the Star Local News aggregation platform, supplemented by e-Edition digital newspapers, Star Local Jobs, Classifieds, Public Notices, Obituaries, Star Savings deals, Best of Contests, Podcasts, Local Events calendars, and advertising services. The company operates primarily as a traditional local news publisher with no public API, AI capabilities, or modern technology integrations identified.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Allen American Community newspaper covering Allen, Texas with local news, sports, events, and city-level coverage available via print subscription and online.
• Carrollton Leader Community newspaper covering Carrollton, Texas with local news, sports, and events.
• Celina Record Community newspaper covering Celina, Texas with local news, sports, and events.
• Coppell Gazette Community newspaper covering Coppell, Texas with local news, sports, and events.
• Flower Mound Leader Community newspaper covering Flower Mound, Texas with local news, sports, and events.
• Frisco Enterprise Community newspaper covering Frisco, Texas with local news, sports, and events.
• Lake Cities Sun Community newspaper covering the Lake Cities area with local news, sports, and events.
• Lewisville Leader Community newspaper covering Lewisville, Texas with local news, sports, and events.
• Little Elm Journal Community newspaper covering Little Elm, Texas with local news, sports, and events.
• McKinney Courier-Gazette Community newspaper covering McKinney, Texas with local news, sports, and events.
• Mesquite News Community newspaper covering Mesquite, Texas with local news, sports, and events.
• Plano Star Courier Community newspaper covering Plano, Texas with local news, sports, and events.
• Check Out Prosper Community publication covering Prosper, Texas with local news, sports, and events.
• Rowlett Lakeshore Times Community newspaper covering Rowlett, Texas with local news, sports, and events.
• The Colony Courier Leader Community newspaper covering The Colony, Texas with local news, sports, and events.
• Star Local News Regional news aggregation platform providing North Texas local news, Texas state news, national news, and lifestyle/entertainment content across multiple communities, central to the network's digital publishing footprint.
• e-Edition Digital newspaper editions available online, providing electronic access to print publications for subscribers.
• Star Local Jobs Job board platform for local employment listings across Star Local Media communities, with paid posting via hiring.starlocaljobs.com.
• Classifieds Local classified advertising marketplace for community marketplace listings.
• Public Notices Legal public notice publication and search service for government and legal announcements, including Texas-wide public notice search.
• Subscriptions Paid subscription services for each individual community newspaper providing access to premium content, home delivery, and digital editions.
• Star Local Media Advertising Advertising services enabling local businesses to reach North Texas audiences through print, digital, classified, and sponsored content placements.
• Newsletters Email newsletter subscriptions delivering community-specific local news, sports recaps, and promotions to subscribers across 15+ lists.
• Obituaries Obituary listing and placement service integrated with legacy.com, allowing families to publish notices and visitors to search.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• CNHI (Community Newspaper Holdings Inc.): CNHI operates a network of community and daily newspapers across the U.S., often in small and mid-sized markets. Direct comparable to Star Local Media as a multi-title community newspaper operator relying on subscriptions, display advertising, and public notices.
• Adams Publishing Group: Adams Publishing Group operates a portfolio of community newspapers, shoppers, and digital sites across small and mid-sized U.S. markets. Closest comparable to Star Local Media in business model: community subscriptions, local display advertising, and public notice revenue.
• Ogden Newspapers: Ogden Newspapers is a family-owned operator of daily and weekly community newspapers with similar revenue mix (subscription, advertising, public notice, classifieds). Closely matches Star Local Media's privately-held, multi-title community newspaper strategy.
• Boone Newspapers: Boone Newspapers manages a portfolio of community newspapers across the U.S. Southeast and Midwest, with comparable reliance on local advertising, subscriptions, and niche public notice revenue — directly parallel to Star Local Media's operating model.
• Pamplin Media Group: Pamplin Media Group operates community newspapers and hyperlocal publications in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, with a comparable mix of print+digital subscriptions, local advertising, and public notices — directly analogous business model to Star Local Media.

Broad incumbents

• A.H. Belo Corporation (Dallas Morning News): A.H. Belo owns the Dallas Morning News and other Texas media assets, serving the same DFW metro market where Star Local Media operates. Larger incumbent serving overlapping regional advertisers and readers, but at city/regional level rather than suburb-hyperlocal level.
• Lee Enterprises: Lee Enterprises is one of the largest U.S. newspaper operators post-GateHouse acquisition, providing a public-market reference point for valuing community newspaper portfolios like Star Local Media's, though Lee serves daily and mid-size markets broadly.
• Gannett Co. Gannett is the largest U.S. newspaper chain (USA Today network), offering both broad daily coverage and community publication assets overlapping in monetization model (subscriptions + display + programmatic) with Star Local Media's network.

Regional players

• Forum Communications Company: Forum Communications operates daily and community newspapers primarily in the Upper Midwest / Dakotas / Minnesota region. Comparable in multi-title community newspaper strategy and revenue mix, though serving a different geographic market than Star Local Media.

Others

• TownNews (BLOX Digital): TownNews provides the BLOX CMS platform that Star Local Media explicitly uses for content management. As a vendor/technology enabler, they sit adjacent to the operating business rather than competing directly, but illustrate the broader ecosystem of community newspaper infrastructure.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/starlocalmedia
• Facebookfacebook.com/starlocalmedia
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/star-local-media
• Instagraminstagram.com/StarLocalMedia

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Star Local Media