Belfast Telegraph to publish on Saturdays

Northern Ireland’s evening newspaper the Belfast Telegraph announced today the launch of a compact morning edition for the Saturday market.

The 128-page morning paper will complement the existing afternoon editions.

There have long been plans for the broadsheet Belfast Telegraph to launch a six-days-a-week morning edition and it is believed the new Saturday edition is the forerunner to that.

Editor Edmund Curran said: “Our research has shown there is great demand to extend the Belfast Telegraph franchise into the Saturday morning market. People have more time to catch up on news, focus on interests such as sport and travel, enjoy lifestyle feature and generally relax with a good quality read.”

He said that from February 19 the new Belfast Telegraph on Saturday would be a “substantially enhanced paper”.

“The new Saturday morning edition will be available across Northern Ireland from 7am along with the other morning papers, offering people a wider choice than ever before.

“The 128-page morning paper will be presented in the same compact format as has already proved so successful for our Independent titles in London and Dublin,” said Mr Curran.

Afternoon editions of the paper will go on sale with substantially updated news and sport, but retaining the core editorial and advertising component of the morning edition.

The announcement came less than a fortnight after the launch of Daily Ireland, a new morning paper with a strong nationalist slant, published by the Andersonstown News group and aimed at Northern Ireland and the border counties of the Republic

Last month the unionist morning paper, the News Letter – the oldest daily paper in the world in continuous publication – launched a new Belfast edition.