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April 13, 2006updated 22 Nov 2022 6:57pm

Answer close on Scots tabloid sales fight

By Press Gazette

By Hamish Mackay

Just who is winning the bruising circulation battle between the Scottish Daily Record and the Scottish Sun should become clearer this week.

The ABC figures for March are due to be released on Thursday this week and neither the Trinity Mirror or News International camps were making any comment this week in advance of the official statistics.

Scottish newspaper buyers are certainly the clear-cut winners amid all the brouhaha as they can double-buy the country’s two best-selling red-top dailies for a bargain price of 25p. From Monday to Friday, the Scottish Sun is selling at 10p with the Daily Record retailing at 15p when bought using a voucher from the previous day’s paper.

While neither camp looks like it will throw in the towel at this stage, media analysts point out that the ABC figures for April will be more significant when the full impact of the latest round of price cuts are fully reflected.

Colin McClatchie, managing director of News International in Scotland and Ireland, wishes us to clarify his position on recent reports in Press Gazette on the circulation of the Scottish Sun.

Although McClatchie was quoted last week as saying to Press Gazette on the Scottish Sun circulation situation, "We are reducing the gap all the time and this, bluntly, is the final push" — this statement was made in a different context in an interview in the Sunday Herald three weeks previously.

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McClatchie had not commented on the circulation battle to PG in the past two weeks. He told Press Gazette this week he will not be commenting on the Scottish Sun circulation figures until the April ABC figures are released in May.

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

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