The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has cleared the way for a new afternoon or evening newspaper to be distributed to London commuters, following a 23-month investigation.
The OFT looked into the exclusive rights of Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL), publishers of the London free morning newspaper the Metro and paid for afternoon/evening newspaper the Evening Standard, to distribute the Metro free in the Underground and various train stations throughout London.
There were concerns that by excluding rival publishers from stations 24 hours a day, despite the fact that the Metro is only distributed in the morning, the exclusivity granted by these agreements went beyond what could be objectively justified.
ANL has now offered to give up its rights to the afternoon/evening slots, allowing London Underground, Network Radio and the relevant train operating companies to re-tender those rights.
The move will please Express Newspapers owner, Richard Desmond, who has reportedly registered the name London i as the title for his planned free-sheet newspaper which will compete with the Evening Standard and the Metro in the capital.
The media mogul had originally planned to call the free-sheet The Evening Mail, but was prevented from doing so after a High Court Judge ruled that readers could mistake it for an evening version of the Daily Mail or the Mail on Sunday.
Last month, London major Ken Livingstone opened the bidding for the creation of an afternoon freesheet in the capital, placing a notice in the Journal of the European Union.
The mayor said: “For the past six years Associated Newspapers have distributed the Metro in the morning. It’s a matter of public record that other newspaper businesses would be willing to distribute a free afternoon paper and might even pay more than we are getting for the Metro deal. All newspaper groups will now have a formal opportunity to let us know that they are interested. Any additional money from a new deal would be invested in further improvements to the Tube.”
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