Daily News will become edition of Inquirer

The Philadelphia Daily News will become an edition of The Inquirer on March 30 in a cost-saving move by Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C., Daily News publisher Mark Frisby said yesterday.

The only change at the tabloid Daily News will be some wording under the paper's flag designating it a "unique edition" of The Inquirer, Frisby said. Content, staff, and management are not changing, he said.

"Nothing is going to change about our passionate voices, about how we do what we do," Daily News editor Michael Days said. "We'll be a unique edition of the Inquirer, and the emphasis is on the unique. "

Frisby said the change had nothing to do with Philadelphia Newspapers' bankruptcy filing on Feb. 22. "We have been planning this change for over a year and know that it will strengthen the Daily News," he said.

Frisby said having one subscription to the Associated Press and other wire services instead of two would save the company an estimated $500,000 a year.

In addition, he said, the company hopes to generate more advertising revenue because ads for the two papers will be sold in a single transaction, not separately as they are now.

Advertisers pay a certain rate for every 1,000 papers in circulation. That rate will not go up, Frisby said, but the company anticipates that more advertisers will choose to be in both papers.

The combined circulation of the two papers is about 430,000 daily, Frisby said.

Contact staff writer Harold Brubaker at 215-854-4651 or hbrubaker@phillynews.com.