The boss of the UK’s largest newspaper publisher has likened the impact on the news industry of the BBC’s move into publishing free online news content to that of internet piracy on the music industry.

Simon Fox, chief executive of Reach (formerly Trinity Mirror), which publishes the Mirror, Express and Star news titles, said he was happy the Cairncross Review into the future of the press had called for Ofcom to assess the BBC’s online news coverage.

“Building a profitable digital news business is not wholly straightforward,” said Fox (pictured, right). “Perhaps, the main challenge is that people expect their online news to be available for free.