Canberra’s daily newspaper, which will mark its centenary next year, will become a weekly publication sometime within the next seven years, according to its publisher Australian Community Media.

The company’s managing director Tony Kendall has told the ABC that all of its 65 daily and non-daily mastheads across the company will progressively move to one print edition a week.

Weekday circulation of the Canberra Times is fraction of its former numbers to the extent that in recent years ACM closed the local press centre and moved the printing out of town and sold the Fyshwick site. The sense is it will be sooner rather than later for the Times to go weekly.

ACM’s daily titles include the seven-day Canberra Times, the Newcastle Herald, Illawarra Mercury, Albury Border Mail, Wagga Wagga Daily Advertiser and the Bendigo Advertiser.

Mr Kendall told the ABC the regional publisher was shifting its focus towards a digital platform.

Meanwhile, ACM’s bi-weekly and tri-weekly publications will move to publishing only on Saturdays from next week.

They include: The Irrigator, Leeton; The Area News, Griffith, Central Western Daily, Bathurst Western Advocate, Dubbo Daily Liberal, Manning River Times, Great Lakes Advocate, Port Macquarie News, Batemans Bay Post-Moruya Examiner.

Mr Kendall said the publishing changes were driven by cost cutting and the transition to digital journalism. Journalists would publish daily news online and the changes would not impact staff numbers.