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Second free paper expected to revive competition in HK

Hong Kong's crowded newspaper market is set for another round of bitter competition with the arrival of a second free daily paper.

Shih Wing-ching (施永青), chairman of the city's biggest unlisted real-estate agency, Centaline Realty, said on Monday he will invest up to HK$100 million (US$12.8 million) to launch the paper sometime in the fourth quarter of the year.

Currently, there is only one free daily newspaper in the territory, Metro, operated by Sweden-based Metro International SA.

Shih will initially invest HK$50 million for an initial launch with a print run of 100,000 copies, and may double his investment to distribute up to 300,000 copies.

"This will be another turning point of Hong Kong's newspaper industry which is set to have a more competitive environment. There will definitely be more free dailies in the city," Shih said.

Hong Kong has one of the most fiercely competitive print-media industries in the world, with over a dozen daily papers competing for readers from among a population of 6.8 million.

But the arrival of Metro in April 2002 stole a chunk of advertising market shares from newspapers sold at newsstands and by subscription.

Metro now has a daily circulation of more than 300,000 and has been one of the biggest contributors to Metro International's global sales.

Shih noted that there are unconfirmed reports that Sing Tao News Corp, the publisher of the English-language Standard and the Chinese-language Sing Tao Daily, is also planning to launch a free daily within the next two months. Sing Tao declined to comment on the reports.

"Some media bosses have been discouraging my plans to invest in free dailies, but now they are doing it themselves," he said.
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