MORAINE — The owner of the Berry Co. said a focus on digital services is leading to the loss of nearly 150 local positions and the creation of more than 60 others, the company said Thursday, Jan. 14.

The owner, Englewood, Colo.-based Local Insight Media, will lay off 105 of 231 employees from one Moraine Berry Co. office, 20 more employees from another Moraine unit and another 21 employees from a Miamisburg office, according to a notice the company sent to Moraine city officials .

However, Kathy Geiger-Schwab, chief strategy officer for the local Berry Co., said that over time a total of 62 positions, in customer sales and Internet service, will be brought to the Dayton area — leading to a net impact of more than 80 job losses.

“Digital media is increasingly used by more and more consumers,” Geiger-Schwab said. With more small- and medium-sized Berry customers working to draw their own customers through digital media, the print side of the business was pressured, she said.

Increasingly, the company builds Web sites and offers video marketing and search engine services, she said.

“It is this significant shift in what we are providing to our customers that is driving some declines in our print services and increases in our sales organization,” Geiger-Schwab said.

Print employees will have a chance to apply for digital-focused positions, she said.

Locally, the first layoffs will not happen until mid- to late March, with new openings being posted as early as the next two weeks, Geiger-Schwab said.

She expects the company to have more than 250 employees locally by the end of 2010.

The Berry Co. serves more than 100 Yellow Pages publishers in 42 states. Local Insight acquired the company in April 2008.

Moraine officials said they received phone calls Thursday from Local Insight asking about security. Dave Hicks, Moraine city manager, said there had been no problems at company offices off Kettering Boulevard. Geiger-Schwab said she expected no problems.

There’s more than one Moraine Berry unit at a campus in the 3100 block of Kettering Boulevard — the Berry Co., and the Berry Network, a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.