Petition Press for Reform: a call for a Competition Commission Market Investigation of the Newspaper Publisher and Distributor Sector

The phone hacking scandal represents the tip of the iceberg of the unethical practices that go along with a sector that lacks any effective regulation.

Some publishers and distributors have used their dominating market positions to alter and consolidate the market in reducing the number of wholesale distributors from 74 in 1994 to 2 today. Each remaining distributor is granted exclusive control over postcode areas so the sector operates effectively as a monopoly.

Independent retailers are left with no choice who they receive their services from; or on what terms, which is threatening the existence of sector itself.

We call for a Market Investigation of the newspaper publisher and wholesale distributor sector by the Competition Commission.