After opting not to print itself, the newspapers it bought with Fairfax Media, Nine Entertainment is reported to be ending some print contracts following price hikes... or not.

Nine’s the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Australian Financial Review are printed by News Corp Australia in Sydney and Melbourne, the latter in a recently-opened greenfield site in Truganina in Melbourne’s outer west.

But printing of the AFR and The Age in Tasmania is reported to be under threat following a price increase at Australian Community Media’s Launceston print site, which was previously owned by Fairfax. Despite the fact that the island state is home to Australia’s last remaining newsprint mill – at Boyer in Hobart – trade publication Mumbrella has reported that higher paper prices in Australia had led to a “substantial” price rise. It quotes Nine managing director of publishing James Chessell that the increase had made it uneconomic to print in Tasmania.

According to ABC News, the decision to cease printing in Tasmania is being reviewed after backlash from newsagents.

Separate print circulation figures for the mastheads are no longer published.

It is not clear whether print copies will be freighted to the state but, despite an ongoing commitment to print, this seems unlikely. Downloadable PDF versions of its newspapers were introduced at last month’s Nine upfronts.

Pictured: Print impact in an AFR promotion