The publishing group Controlinveste will launch a new free daily, Global Notí­cias in September.

Global Notí­cias will have 24 pages and a circulation of 150,000, available first in Lisbon, by home delivery and in public places, according to Newspaper Innovation.

Controlinveste also owns Diario de Notí­cias, Jornal de Notí­cias, 24 Horas and O Jogo

Portugal's other free dailies include Destak (Cofina, 2004), Metro (2005), OJE (2006), Diário Desportivo and Meia Hora (both 2007), according to Newspaper Innovation. Total circulation of free dailies in the country is now more than 550,000. Paid circulation in 2006 was at 620,000. This means the addition of Global Notícias will cause free circulation to pass paid circulation.

“Transferring readers from free to paid, however, has never been shown in the – so far short – history of free daily newspapers,” writes Piet Bakker, Newspaper Innovation's expert on free dailies.