No one thing killed TheLondonPaper, but one of my first thoughts on hearing the sad news that TheLondonPaper was to close was is this part of Rupert Murdoch's paid content strategy?The facts are pretty simple: London is the most competitive newspaper market in the world and NI Free Newspapers, which publishes the TheLondonPaper, posted a £12.96m loss this year and £16.48m last year.Unless there is a radical shift in the economy there is little prospect of TheLondonPaper being profitable any time soon. London Lite doesn't make any money either and even after the withdrawal of its rival it still faces an uphill battle as does The Evening Standard, which leads online with TheLondonPaper's closure (London Lite doesn't have a website).
Whether this will be good news for The Evening Standard is tough to say while London Lite continues to publish. Besides, the Standard had problems long before the arrival of London's evening freesheets. Given that News Corporation has stated that it intends to charge for all forms of online content, a free newspaper and its free website makes ever less sense. Maybe this is the reason that the website will close along with the print title.Newspapers are closing around the world and unless publishers are making money out of content increasingly they are not going to publish it.The closure of TheLondonPaper with its 500,000 copies daily is a radical example of that.Rupert Murdoch is not usually the one to blink first, and he has in the past clobbered rivals with price wars (the Sun is still 20p), but given the changing economic model for content and the fall in advertising revenues not blinking first no longer makes sense.For Associated Newspapers it might be a hollow victory. Yes its situation is immediately improved, but there is no change to the weakness of overall market conditions.In his statement James Murdoch said that the move was about streamlining operations and focusing on its core titles. As News Corp prepares to consider a rollout of paid content it makes perfect sense.Looking at the TheLondonPaper in light of paid content it looks like a remainder and one that has not been carried.None of this, of course, makes getting money out of consumers for the content that News Corp plans to charge for any easier, but then we will have to wait and see what it does next. As one thing is for sure, Murdoch is full of surprises.
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He sure is, ain't he. Does this mean that News Corp lost the war? Or Associated won? To quote officer Roland 'Prez' Pryzbylewski from HBO's The Wire: Nobody wins, one side just loses more slowly. Cue the London Lite deathwatch. Yet, Lebedev seems like a stubborn, arrogant, proud man, I don't see him shutting down shop anytime soon... but I could have said the same for Murdoch. Does that mean News Corp comes out on top here? Answers Gordon, we demand answers.
Yeah Lebedev will definitely continue. The Standard's his billionaire's play thing. He's not running it with pure $$$'s in mind - just prestige and influence - unlike Murdoch who has shareholders to answer to and $'s to make.
The environment will thank Mr. Murdoch for this I'm sure
Great way to work the Wire in there. I think you are exactly right - cue death watch. London Lite is terrible recycled rubbish.
Chris i think you're right also Lebedev is in it for the long haul. The Standard is better than it was.
Gordon Macmillan
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