It seems the rumours about a new paper launching in Birmingham as a rival to Trinity Mirror’s now weekly Post title are true.
Later this spring, Former Trinity Mirror weeklies boss Tony Lennox and local newspaper publisher Chris Bullivant will launch an upmarket weekly, the Birmingham Press.
The paper will operate a part-free, part paid-for model with a free distribution of 25,000 copies, Holdthefrontpage reported yesterday.
So a new print circulation war in Birmingham? It’s on the cards. Lennox has been very keen to stress how the Post has moved away from a generalist audience leaving a gap for his new paper.
He said: “We do feel there is a gap in the market and we think it can sustain another print product.
“The Post has definitely created its own niche. It is definitely a business paper. We will be carrying a business platform, but it won’t be the main thing in the paper.
“We are going to be a very traditional paper, with everything you would expect to see in a local paper.”
The Post already has one new local rival. Marc Reeves, former editor of The Post, launched a Birmingham version of the business news website TheBusinessDesk last month in direct competition to his old paper.
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