A sign of the Times... but who will pay the price?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jan/05/the-times-raises-weekday-price-to-90p The Times today will be hitting newshelves across the nation at the price of 90pence a copy... Questions start to rumble in my digital mind as we see yet another broadsheet upping the cover price to match the Telegraphs Q4 price rise.

So it begs to question,  if 2008 was the year the bank s collapsed, could 2009 finally see of an already long suffering print journalism industry, or at least kneecap a few fledgling titles? The Times' Online web prescense (www.timesonline.co.uk) will surely keep the brand alive, long into the next decade (unless Murdoch's cronies really do dessert him), but how much life is left for the print version?

Answers on a postcard...

More info from Ogilvy's Media Director- Paul Braithwaite

"News International today increased the cover price of the weekday edition of the Times by 10p to 90p. The Times ran a small story on page 2 of its Saturday paper this week telling readers about the planned changes; another article explained that the price rise was being made against a background of rising newsprint costs and the economic downturn. Its price rise means the paper is again the same price as the Daily Telegraph, which is published by Telegraph Media Group. The Guardian, published by Guardian News & Media which also publishes MediaGuardian.co.uk, remains 80p, while Independent News & Media's weekday Independent costs £1. Among the other quality papers, the Financial Times remains £1.80, while the Saturday edition of the Times remains £1.50 and the Sunday Times £2. The move follows the Times taking the unusual step of raising its cover price to 80p in September to match the cost of the Telegraph for the first time since the price wars of the mid-1990s. However, later that month the Telegraph raised its weekday price to 90p; the Times has now again moved to match the price of its rival. "It gives us no pleasure to ask readers to pay more in what will be a tough year for so many people, but I am afraid it was inevitable against the background of the economic downturn and the ever-rising cost of newsprint," wrote columnist Sally Baker, in the feedback section of the Times on Saturday. In July last year, the Times launched a free home delivery service through which readers within the M25 could order the daily and the Sunday Times. The move followed a full-colour relaunch of the paper in June.