Boston Now is about to launch in the eponymous city and compete with the Metro Boston free sheet (as well as the Boston Globe). Dagsbrun Media, publisher of Boston Now, is planning on launching 8 to 10 more freesheets in the US.

Existing US dailies are also preparing to launch their own free sheets, to repel the offensive by Examiner-like freebie chains (Examiner has editions in Washington, San Francisco and Baltimore).

"They're popping up everywhere, which would certainly suggest that they're working," said Brad Moore, RedEye's general manager (Chicago Tribune's five-year old free tabloid). "We're all doing it a little bit differently, but for the most part we're all trying to reach a non-newspaper reading segment or a light reading segment."

Furthermore, not only are free sheets bound to multiply, they are planning on boosting their circulation. Boston Metro hopes to increase its distribution from 165,000 to 200,000 copies daily, and The Tampa Bay Times just increased its distribution to over 356,000 copies.

The Chicago Tribune just announced that it would introduce a home-delivered week-end supplement to its free tabloid Red Eye. Its circulation has shot up to 150,000 copies from 100,000 last September.

Is the free sheet war about to hit the US?

Source: MediaBuyerPlanner - Yahoo Business