Lords Revolt In Favour Of Curbing Newspaper Price Cuts

The House of Lords last night voted by 121 to 93 in favour of an amendment to the Competition Bill which is aimed at preventing national newspapers abusing a dominant position in order to put rivals out of business.

The Government is vehemently opposed to any amendment to the Bill and it will attempt to overturn the amendment in the Commons within the next few weeks. The move by the Lords is aimed primarily at the Times which has recently used various price cuts to boost its circulation. A group of peers, led by Lord McNally of the Liberal Democrats, feel that it is unfair that Rupert Murdoch is able to subsidise the Times through profits from his other businesses.

The amendment demands that “any conduct on the part of one or more national newspapers…which amounts to an abuse of a dominant position is prohibited if it may reduce the diversity of the national newspaper press in the UK by reducing, retarding, injuring or eliminating competition.”