Until now there have been few concrete details available about Desmond's planned launch, which it is believed will be called the Evening Mail and is due to debut in the spring. An editor for the title has yet to be appointed, but it is thought that a name will be announced soon.
Christian Toksvig joins Express Newspapers as development manager and is the first outside hiring for the proposed free London evening newspaper. Until now supposed development of the title has been handled internally.
The appointment will silence some who believe that Desmond has been bluffing to confuse his rivals at the Daily Mail & General Trust. Desmond has also been reported to be ready to invest £50m in promoting his Express Newspapers titles, which include the Daily and Sunday Express as well as the seven-day Daily Star operation.
Toksvig brings with him experience of launching free Metro newspapers in cities across Europe. Metro International has launched free papers in Hong Kong, Paris Stockholm and Santiago and has no connection with DMGT's Metro title in London.
Key to the launch will be distribution plans. DMGT already has contracts with London Underground tied up and it has been reported that Desmond has struck a crucial deal with a London retailer to distribute the paper.
The Evening Mail will compete head to head with Metro and the London Evening Standard, making the advertising battle an important one. The Metro recently went into profit, but the Evening Standard has struggled, It recently shook up its advertising sales team in a move which saw six key ad sales people leave. It is not known if these people had jobs to go to.
Desmond is not the first to look at the idea of challenging the Metro and Express. Earlier this year, Rupert Murdoch was reported to have plans for a £100m launch of a London freesheet, which were sunk after he failed to secure a distribution deal with Railtrack.
The last time there was a newspaper battle in London was back in the 1980s, when Robert Maxwell tried to launch a 24-hour newspaper, the London Daily News. DMGT fought back by temporarily reviving the Evening News.
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