The Chronicle might not be the only Bay Area daily to shut down its presses and outsource printing to an outside company. The trade publication Newspapers & Technology says it has been told by sources that MediaNews could be a likely customer of the plant Transcontinental Inc. will build to print the Chronicle. As the PPC reported Nov. 17, the Chronicle signed a contract to have Transcon, Canada’s largest printing company, print the newspaper beginning in 2009, a move that will allow the Chron to shed 237 Teamster press-operator jobs and about 200 others in the mailroom and other areas. MediaNews publishes the Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, Oakland Tribune, Marin Independent Journal, San Mateo County Times and other dailies. MediaNews also owns the Palo Alto Daily News and its chain of free dailies, whose printing has been outsourced for several years to Southwest Offset in Redwood City.