• by Ray Schultz , October 4, 2023

Two UK newspapers have found a way of coping with ever-rising print costs. 

News UK and DMG Media propose to form a joint venture to combine their printing operations. This would include the printing operations of Newsprinters (News UK) and DMG Media printing sites in Thurrock (Essex) and Dinnington (South Yorkshire). 

A new company would be created to run the combined print operations. 

Specifically, the three current Newsprinters sites in Broxbourne (Hertfordshire), Knowsley (Merseyside) and Eurocentral (Glasgow) would be retained. This could mean closure of the DMG Media sites in Thurrock and Dinnington. 

The arrangement would not affect DMG Media’s Carn print site in Northern Ireland.

The plan must be vetted by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority.

The publishers point out that national print newspaper circulation has fallen by more than 60% over the past 10 years.

“The decade-long decline in print circulation has not been matched with changes to print capacity and we must find ways to keep physical newspapers, which have an important future, commercially viable,” says Julia Palmer-Poucher,” production director at DMG Media Group. 

Palmer-Poucher adds, “This proposed combination would provide a long-term solution for the (Daily) Mail print titles and a sustainable future for the newspaper printing industry.”