Daily Mail & General Trust Mulls Closing London Lite Newspaper
By Lilly Vitorovich, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
LONDON -(Dow Jones)- U.K. publisher Daily Mail & General Trust PLC (DMGT) said
Tuesday it is considering shutting down its free afternoon London newspaper,
London Lite, a move that would end a five-year battle for London's evening
commuter readership that forced the London Evening Standard to end a 182-year
history of paid circulation.
London Lite was launched in 2004 by DMGT as Standard Lite, an abridged
freesheet version of London's Evening Standard. It was designed to help boost
circulation and advertising revenues.
It changed its name to London Lite in 2006, just as News Corp. (NWS) launched
a rival freesheet, the Londonpaper.
The Evening Standard has been in circulation in one form or another since
1827, and has seen off many rivals in that time, but earlier this year the loss-
making paper was bought from DMGT by Russian businessman Alexander Lebedev for
GBP1, who decided to end paid subscription of the paper in the face of falling
readership and competition from the freesheets.
With advertising revenue stretched between the Evening Standard and the two
freesheets, they struggled to make money, and the U.K. recession proved to be a
step too far. News Corp. closed the Londonpaper in September, citing the tough
economic environment and Lebedev decided to make the Evening Standard free to
try and boost its circulation and reverse its fortunes.
The media division of DMGT, Associated Newspapers, said Tuesday it is talking
to London Lite's 36 staff about its future. No further details were released in
the group's brief statement.
London Lite has a daily circulation of around 400,000, compared with the
Evening Standard's 600,000.
News Corp. owns Dow Jones & Co., publisher of this wire.
-By Lilly Vitorovich, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-0-207 842 9290;
lilly.vitorovich@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
10-27-091127ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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