The Belfast Telegraph to become a morning-only title from Friday
In a further rationalisation of the UK’s regional newspaper market, The Belfast Telegraph is ditching its evening edition to become a morning-only title from this Friday.
Media website Press Gazette reports that the move will bring it in line with rival dailies the News Letter and the Irish News.
The paper, which has a cover price of 50p, was founded as an evening newspaper in 1870, and first began printing its morning edition in early 2005.
It was entirely broadsheet until the Saturday morning edition was introduced and all Saturday editions were converted to compact
The current editor is Mike Gilson who took over in 2009 after a three-year period as editor of The Scotsman.
A spokesman for publishers Independent News and Media the paper would be "printed, distributed and made available to readers at the same time as all other daily newspapers".
Deputy chief executive Richard McClean said: "With the final edition available earlier, we are committed to maintaining the growth of our strong multi-platform readership and to continuing our unrivalled service to our readers."
The most recent ABC figures show circulation of the Belfast Telegraph fell 8.1%to 53,771 in the last six months of 2011.
However, it remains Northern Ireland’s biggest-selling regional newspaper - ahead of the Irish News (down 5.2% to 41,932) and the News Letter (down 4.7% to 22,548).