Multimarket contact of US newspaper chains: circulation competition and market coordination

Post-war ownership consolidation and acquisition in the US newspaper industry has given rise to extensive market contact amid the remaining chains. This paper studies the impact of this industrial structure on local daily newspaper competition. It seeks to examine whether multimarket contact (MMC) between two newspaper chains can facilitate coordinating exclusive circulation areas for their respective newspapers in proximate circulation markets. Econometric results indicate a strong linkage between the MMC variable and reduced circulation competition for 218 papers in the midwest US. Advertising prices are found to be significantly higher with MMC newspapers.