The Times to hit Gulf newsstands

The Times and The Sunday Times will be on sale on the same day as in the UK.

British expatriates in the Middle East will soon be able to read British newspaper The Times on the same day it is published in the UK.

From 21^st May, international editions of The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times will be printed and distributed by Jeddah-based SAB Media, a division of SAB Holdings.

The papers will be printed in Dubai, but edited in London. The Times will be priced at Dhs7 and The Sunday Times at Dhs15.

SAB Media says it will print 15,000 copies per day, which will be delivered before breakfast in the UAE, but probably not until after lunch in Saudi Arabia, according to SAB Media CEO Tariq Qureishy.

The Times' owner in London, News International, will have complete editorial control over the 64-page Middle East edition, but Qureishy said that they would be sensitive to the unique requirements of the Middle East.

"Scantily clad women will not appear," he assured Arabianbusiness.com when he was asked about the editorial challenges facing the newspaper. "And there will be no content produced locally."

The fact that the newspaper will be published from London has allowed SAB Media to avoid the difficulties of securing a newspaper publishing license in any GCC country.

However, the project did require approval by the UAE government, a process that Qureishy described as "lengthy".

The license he has secured is specifically for "The Times International Edition, printed in Dubai," he clarified.

Although editorial will be handled exclusively from London, advertising will be sold into the Middle East editions, with 20-30 advertising spaces available to be sold every day.

"Local advertising copy is uploaded digitally to London every day and will appear in the newspaper alongside British advertising," explained Qureishy. He said that he hoped in time to capture "two, three, even four percent of the newspaper advertising market."

SAB Media also hopes to piggyback on some of the direct selling ideas that have worked for the UK newspaper. For example, the company intends to launch the Sunday Times Wine Club and Sunday Times Book Club - both of which sell directly to the public.

Producing international editions of The Times and The Sunday Times has been a significant part of News International's strategy to build audited circulation for the titles.

The Middle East is also an important region editorially, says the newspaper's editor. "Since 1798, when The Times first reported Napoleon's arrival in Egypt, we have invested heavily in our reporting from the region and we now have one of the largest networks of reporters in the Middle East. Printing in Dubai is a very important milestone and we look forward to providing intelligent, informative and entertaining news, comment and analysis for many new readers in the region," Robert Thomson, Editor of The Times, explained.

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READERS' COMMENTS

sunday times
Posted by leo fewtrell, dubai, uae on Thursday 17 May 2007 at 17:21 UAE time


great news! Will the supplements be included? 
Shame about the scantily clad women, but what the heck? The Sunday Times never had too many in the first place :)

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