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The latest Sunday newspaper preparing to hit the market, the green-

tinged title, the Planet on Sunday, has announced a cut in cover price a

little more than a week before its 16 June launch date.

The 48-page single section mid-market tabloid will sell for 50p, down

from the 65p originally planned. The reduction is part of an effort to

draw readers away from the Mail on Sunday and the Sunday Express in the

shrinking Sunday market.

However, the Planet will be launched without an ad campaign. It will

instead rely on a pounds 500,000 public relations budget to generate

sufficient media interest to help get the paper off the ground.

The Planet is planning a print run of 600,000 and is gunning for a

circulation of between 200,000 and 400,000, with a settle-down

circulation of 250,000. Like the Sunday Business, which has been beset

with problems since it launched in April, the Planet is hoping to be a

second read newspaper.

The paper is being edited by Austin Mitchelson, a former editor of the

Sunday Sport. According to Mitchelson, the cover price makes the Planet

the most affordable quality Sunday newspaper available.

‘The interest generated in the Planet has exceeded our expectations,’

Mitchelson told ±±¾©Èü³µpk10. ‘The trade has shown great confidence by

ordering the entire 600,000 print run. We are considering increasing

this.’

A dummy issue of the paper released this week reveals a look similar to

the Mail on Sunday, with a range of human interest stories. An

environmental slant is taken with a column by the Guardian’s environment

correspondent, John Vidal.