FOX31 Denver

Mountain newspapers sold to West Virginia company

Disused newspaper racks clutter a storage yard in San Francisco, Friday, March 13, 2009. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

ASPEN, Colo. (AP/KDVR) — Swift Communications is selling its local media and publishing businesses to West Virginia-based Ogden Newspapers.

The Swift-owned Aspen Times reports that with the acquisition, Ogden Newspapers will publish 54 daily newspapers and a number of weekly newspapers and magazines in 18 states after the deal closes Dec. 31.

Terms of the deal have not been released.

Swift Communications was founded in 1975, and the family-owned business has run magazines, newspapers, websites, book publishing and other digital products in several Western states, including Colorado, Utah, South Dakota and California

It also publishes a handful of national magazines and journals.

Colorado newspapers impacted

According to Swift Communications, the company owns these Colorado publications: