Must-have FT ups the subscription ante

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SCOTT JAGOW: Meanwhile, the Financial Times is increasing the price of its newspaper by 30 percent. Not many newspapers in this country could do that — our man in London, Stephen Beard, tells us what’s going on.

STEPHEN BEARD: Britain’s mainstream newspapers are under pressure — circulations are declining, advertising revenues are threatened by the Internet. It’s inconceivable that any of them would dare raise their prices, let alone by 30 percent.

But the Financial Times inhabits a different world — it’s circulation is rising. Finance is Britain’s most successful industry. The publisher clearly feels it can raise the paper’s price to the equivalent of $2.60 without losing readers. They’re right, says fund manager Justin Urquart-Stewart.

JUSTIN URQART-STEWART: Frankly, it’s a must-have purchase. In the same way that if you were in the states you’d be having your Wall Street Journal and in London and Europe you must have your Financial Times. So the fact we have to pay an extra 30 percent is, well, frankly, an extra cost we have to bear.

Some insiders suggest that the FT’s publisher wants to raise the price even further, to $4 a copy. In London, this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.