News Corp Australia announces commercial printing arrangement with Fairfax Media

News Corp Australia today announced it has entered into commercial printing arrangements with Fairfax Media.

Under the agreements, News Corp Australia will provide seven-day printing services to Fairfax in NSW and Queensland. Fairfax will print some publications for News Corp out of its North Richmond plant.

News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller says the arrangements demonstrate the company’s confidence in the future of printed newspapers and in the influence and impact of trusted newspaper journalism. In addition, he said the arrangements with Fairfax Media provides benefits of scale and efficiency.

Says Miller: “As a publisher, we have absolute confidence in the ongoing significance of newspapers.  Within this framework, we need to continue to look at the most effective and efficient ways to produce newspapers.

“This is a commercial deal which makes commercial sense by enabling better use of our existing print facilities.”

In addition to NSW and Queensland, Mr Miller said talks were continuing to develop further opportunities that ensure the competitiveness and viability of our mastheads.

He added that the arrangement has no crossover or impact on content from either publisher; it is a commercial print contract only.

The arrangement mirrors that in place in New Zealand where HT&E Media (formerly APN Media) prints certain Fairfax newspaper titles; and in Britain where News UK prints the newspapers of its competitors e.g. Daily Mail, Evening Standard, The Daily Telegraph (UK) and the Daily Express.

The new printing arrangement will commence this month.