News International will launch its free afternoon newspaper for London on two weeks earlier than previously announced.
Thelondonpaper will debut on 4 September, two weeks earlier than the 18 September launch date that News International had previously announced.
"September 4th has always been our preferred launch date — we simply aimed for the 18th to give ourselves some flexibility," said a News International spokeswoman.
News International said the 70-strong team for thelondonpaper under editor Stefano Hatfield is now in place and a consumer marketing campaign for the title is due to start next week.
The change in launch date follows the confirmation last week that Associated Newspapers plans to launch a rival evening freesheet, London Lite.
News International plans for some 700 distributors to hand out 400,000 copies of the thelondonpaper in central London and Canary Wharf between 4.30pm and 7.30pm.
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