TORONTO SUN EXAMINING POSSIBLE U.K. TABLOID
<Toronto Sun Publishing Corp> said it
was examining an idea for a new tabloid newspaper in Britain
after being being approached about the concept by a person in
England it declined to indentify.
    "We were talking to this individual and offered to help him
in effect formulate his concept and that is about as far as it
has gone," Toronto Sun Publishing vice-president of finance
Bruce Jackson said in reply to a query.
    "We have not decided anything," Jackson added. "It has not
been brought to the board of directors for any kind of approval
or heavy discussion."
    Jackson said that Toronto Sun recently produced a dummy
newspaper for the individual to use in testing possible British
market reaction. Toronto Sun publishes tabloids in Toronto,
Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta and the Houston Post.
    Asked about possible financial or editorial support by
Toronto Sun, Jackson replied: "It is far too premature to
discuss anything like that." He said further developments were
unlikely to unfold for "at least a month."
    Jackson described the British tabloid market as "very
competitive, but it is a very large market as well. It most
likely doesn't take a large market share to be profitable there
as long as you find the right niche."
    He said Toronto Sun is approached almost every month about
ideas for starting newspapers, mostly in North America, "as the
Toronto Sun is known to be a newspaper group that has started
papers.
    "Unfortunately, this one leaked out and it probably
attracted a little more attention than it really deserves at
this point," Jackson said.
    Toronto Sun recently dropped plans to start a second
English language newspaper in Montreal, citing a study that
indicated the lack of a sufficient advertising base for such a
paper.
 Reuter
