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By Tony Hallett, 2 February 1999 00:20

NEWS Plans by UK newspapers, The Mirror and The Sun to launch free Internet Service Providers (ISP) have been called 'shrewd' by industry watchers. Silicon.com yesterday revealed both tabloids are working on their own Internet access services. Some see the move as particularly significant for The Sun. Last month, in a speech made to the Singapore Broadcasting Authority, Rupert Murdoch - head of News Corporation, which owns The Sun - said the Internet is not ready to be taken seriously by established media players. However, analysts agree that The Mirror and The Sun are planning ahead wisely. Chad Wollen, consultant at the Henley Research Centre, said: "People are spending less time reading newspapers and more time on the Internet. That shift, if you're an ad-based medium, is important." The Centre has calculated 19 per cent of Sun readers own a PC or Macintosh computer, and 5 per cent of those people access the Internet. The figures for the Mirror are 17 per cent and 8 per cent respectively. Daniel Bieler, analyst at Ovum, said: "Dixons' Freeserve has proved how important it is to have a good network behind you. These papers have lots of content, so assuming they can find the right network provider to go with them, what they're doing is promising." Freeserve is run by Energis' ISP subsidiary, Planet Online. Clive Longbottom, strategy consultant of CSL Consulting, was also positive. He said: "It's an evolutionary move for them. Generally, it's been the broadsheets that have gone down the electronic route, but they're struggling because they're rarely acting as portals. The Sun and the Mirror have an excellent chance to hold on to users by offering free email and Web space, plus they'll be in a position to profile users and sell the information to advertisers." But Wollen warned that the future is by no means certain. "There are people out there who want this type of service, but who don't read The Sun or The Mirror," he said. "These companies have to think about what will keep these users coming back."