Sun Tinkers With Cover Price Again, Trying To Hold On To Sales

Just a fortnight after raising its cover price in London and the south east, The Sun is bringing it back down again, in a new round of price tinkering that some are painting as an attempt to keep the News International title’s circ above three million. The Sun was discounted to 20p in the region last year but hiked to 35p in July. Now it’s harmonising the nationwide price at 30p. The earlier promotional price drop revived the circulation, which dropped below the totemic three million mark in December. It’s hovering above that right now on 3.089 million and is up annually, but sales have fallen for four consecutive months; the FT is about the only newspaper adding readers. Reuters reminds us The Sun’s rival Mirror publisher Trinity Mirror (LSE: TNI) CEO Sly Bailey ruled out price cuts last week. Sun Online’s unique users grew four percent to 15.51 million in June.