[1]Rupert Murdoch personally oversaw the printing of his new Sun on Sunday tabloid, saying he wanted the paper replacing the scandal-hit News of the World to sell well over two million copies.
The 80-year-old media baron arrived late Saturday at a printworks in Hertfordshire, north of London, to see what he hopes will be the most-read weekly newspaper in Britain paper roll off the presses for the first time.
"New Sunday edition nearly ready. Fantastic achievement by great staff. Many thanks," Murdoch wrote on his Twitter account earlier on Saturday.
A day earlier he wrote on the microblogging-site: "Great speculation, sweeps, etc on Sunday's sale. I will be very happy at anything substantially over two million!"
British media reported that three million copies of the new paper were being printed but there was no confirmation, and no immediate indication of what story the paper was going to carry on its front page.
Murdoch flew into Britain on February 16 to take charge of a crisis at The Sun after several senior journalists were arrested over allegations of bribery involving public officials.
The following day he visited The Sun's offices in London to announce the surprise launch of a seventh-day Sun, just seven months after the News of the World was closed by a scandal over the hacking of mobile phone voicemails.
The bold move was an apparent attempt to both wrongfoot critics and staff reportedly angry that his US-based News Corporation media empire had given police the information that led to some of the arrests.
It has also been seen as a way of reassuring News Corp. shareholders in the United States that the firm is trying to move on from the News of the World scandal.
Two million sales would make the new edition comfortably the most-read weekly newspaper in Britain, topping the 1.9 million circulation of The Mail on Sunday.
Murdoch has also announced that the Sun on Sunday is 'completely sold out for advertising' and said its 50 pence ($0.80, 0.60 euro cents) cover price was 'great news for readers and the economy'.
However, sales of 2.75 million are needed to match the daily edition of The Sun's average circulation and the sort of sales figures achieved by the News of the World.
Murdoch's move is likely to spark a price war with rival 'red-top' newspapers like the Sunday Mirror, The People and the Daily Star Sunday, which have all gained readers since the News of the World's closure.
The News of the World's June 2011 average sales were 2.67 million and while half of those readers have drifted off to other papers, 1.3 million have simply vanished from the market altogether, industry figures show.
"The waiting is nearly over. One more day brings the dawn of a brilliant new era for The Sun," the paper said on Saturday.
The Sunday edition 'will be packed with all the news, features and sport you have come to love -- plus a stunning line-up of new columnists'.
They include Michelin-starred chef Heston Blumenthal, Archbishop of York John Sentamu, second-highest cleric in the Church of England, and former glamour model Jordan.
Military chiefs have ordered thousands of copies to be flown to British troops serving in Afghanistan and the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean.
"In Britain and the world's hot spots, every day is now a Sun day," the paper said. Australian-born Murdoch, who is now a US citizen, bought the Sun in 1969 and was pictured reading one of the first copies after he purchased it back then too.
He revolutionised Britain's newspaper industry in the 1980s by taking his papers to digital printing in defiance of the trade unions and then launched a price war in the 1990s that rival papers struggled to keep up with.
Links:
[1] http://archive.asianage.com/murdochsun-afpjpgcropdisplayjpg-670