News Corp Australia has solved a print production headache with the sale of the Perth Sunday Times - one of the first newspapers acquired by Rupert Murdoch - to local rival Seven West Media.
News' national daily The Australian has reported that News Corporation has agreed to sell the newspaper along with its seven-day website PerthNow, citing "sources" that commercial terms had been agreed with the price between $12-15 million.
No other terms are known - whether for example, restraints will prevent News from filling the gap in its online geography by launching another website.
According to the report, publishing the Sunday Times one day a week "was believed to be unsustainable". The West Australian is also expected to strike a content deal with News Corp Australia, replacing one it has with Fairfax Media.
News has listed the proposed deal with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, with the deadline for public submissions on competition in the West Australian media sector set at June 17. The ACCC has set July 28 as a provisional date for announcement of its findings (which can be a final decision or release of a Statement of Issues).
While Seven West's metro daily the West Australian and the weekend Sunday Times dominate the Perth media landscape, it's unlikely that the ACCC would oppose the sale unless a viable alternative purchaser was to come forward, which is unlikely in the current print media environment. Indeed the merger could extend the life of printed newspapers in WA.
Experience from Adelaide and Brisbane - where authorities forced News to divest alternative titles, which then collapsed in a much more favourable publishing market - should tell the ACC opposing the sale isn't going to work.
It also solves a problem for News, which has identified its Perth Print site - with three manroland Geoman presslines, dating to 1998 (and even 1990) - as a heatspot requiring major investment. By contrast, Seven West's print site - anchored on KBA and Ferag equipment installed new in 2009 - offers a range of production options and has capacity enough to take on the Sunday title. A hybrid pressline combines double-width KBA Colora presses which print at 75,000 cph with heatset and coldset single-width Comet capacity, and is linked to a flexible Ferag mailroom capable of handling products which have exceeded 560 tabloid pages... effectively the kind of volume most publishers wish they were still producing.
News is also expected to negotiate a print and distribution deal for the West Australian edition of national daily The Australian.
Peter Coleman