USA Today raising single-copy price to $1

NEW YORK -- USA Today said Friday it will raise its newsstand price by 25 cents to $1 to offset rising newsprint costs.The 33 percent increase could affect the nation's highest-circulation newspaper more than price hikes affect the other two national newspapers, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, because USA Today is more dependent on single-copy sales. The cost of the Times went up 25 cents in August, while the Journal's price rose 50 cents in July. Even after the increase, USA Today's newsstand price will be less than the $1.50 now charged for weekday editions of the Times and $2 for the Journal.

Larry Lindquist, USA Today's senior vice president for circulation, said newsprint costs have risen to a 12-year high and further increases are expected later in the year. "We remain confident that the continued strong demand for USA Today from consumers, and our price relative to our competition, means that the marketplace will support this adjustment to our newsstand price," Lindquist said.

Newspapers across the country have been facing flat or declining circulation and plunging advertising revenue primarily because of the migration of readers to the Internet. A weakening economy has further driven down ad sales this year. USA Today's price increase could help the paper generate more revenue if circulation doesn't drop drastically as a result. But it's not likely to offset completely the losses it's seeing in advertising. The latest figures available show that ad revenue declined 13.5 percent in August from a year earlier.