Newsquest will be using CTP in half of its 10 print plants by the end of this month.

The regional newspaper group has installed Autologic CTP systems at its Brighton and Colchester printing plants, and another will go into its Wingate site within the next few weeks, according to group print director Steve Long (PrintWeek, 18 July).

Printing Techniques is supplying Agfas N91 photopolymer plates for those sites, plus Weymouth and Southampton.

CTP makes sense from both a quality and an economic perspective. It gives a sharper dot and with the punch registers on the platesetters, the register is very good, so on-press fit is exact, said Long.

He claimed Newsquests Southampton plant was the first newspaper plant in the UK to adopt CTP, five years ago. But the company currently has no plans to introduce CTP to any of its five remaining plants, which still use traditional analogue film and plate technology.

If youre doing a lot of collect runs, CTP can save money on print costs, but if youre doing straight runs, then material costs can still actually be more expensive than using traditional methods, said Long.

At the moment, the figures for moving to CTP on our other print plants dont stack up.