That is the message global media consultants Simon-Kucher & Partners is hoping to send to news publishers, with a report that makes the case for significant increases in newspaper cover prices.

Price hikes are frequently seen as tangible proof of a newspaper’s declining fortunes, a desperate attempt on editors’ parts to combat dwindling revenue. Take for example Jeff Jarvis’s reaction to the NYTimes’s decision to raise the price of its print edition by 25 percent, from $2 per copy to $2.50. Jarvis doubted the viability of such a move, believing that it aimed to “support an outmoded economic model.” Newspapers, he argued, have lost much of their pricing power as online content puts paid to the advertising models that once made newspapers a powerful economic force. Jarvis’s reflections on the impact digital has had on newspaper ad revenue is valid in the main, but his assertion that increasing cover prices is an exercise in futility finds a counter-argument in SKP’s recent study.

Rupert Murdoch's The Sunday Times last weekend increased its cover price by 10 percent to £2.20, becoming the most expensive national Sunday newspaper in the United Kingdom, MediaWeek reported Friday.

This is the first increase in the past four years, when the cover price rose to £2.00, the Press Gazette reminded. However, News International said the price hike "is less than the rise in the retail prices index over that period," MediaGuardian quoted.

Despite The Sunday Times' move, competitors have maintained their cover prices. According MediaGuardian, The Observer costs £2, the Sunday Telegraph £1.90 and the Independent on Sunday £1.80.

Two days after the increase, British supermarket chain Asda decided to remove The Sunday Times from the shelves of its 260 stores "due to a dispute over the margin it receives for selling the title," MediaWeek informed.

According to the chain, News International is keeping 18.3p of the extra 20p of the cover price, lowering Asda's sales gain from 25 percent to 23.1 percent.

UK daily The Sun has launched a new print and outdoor advertising campaign touting its columnists and its lower cover price in the south east region, MarketingWeek reported yesterday.

The campaign was designed to promote the News International tabloid's lower cover price of 20 pence, down from 30 pence, as well as to capture the different writing styles of its columnists, according to MarketingWeek. Each ad features an iconic portrait photograph of a columnist along with a short tagline that reflects that writer's unique style.

The promotional pricing offered by The Sun puts pressure on its rivals, The Daily Mirror, priced at 45p and The Daily Star at 20p, according to MediaWeek. While circulation revenues are declining overall for the UK newspaper industry, the News International tile aims to increase its readership by offering promotional pricing in different regions. The latest slash in cover price will be seen in the Central TV region encompassing Birmingham and Oxford, with the title priced at 20p from 30p.

However, the time span for this aggressive promotional pricing strategy remains indefinite.

The daily has seen a fall in circulation, thrice over the past 4 months below the 3million mark, and the recent ABC audit for February indicates a circulation decline by 3.6 percent to 2,972,763, MediaWeek reported.

The Guardian's weekday cover price will go up to £1 on Sept. 7, an increase of 10p, the newspaper announced over the weekend. The Saturday edition of the UK newspaper will be raised to £1.90, up 20p.

The newspaper last increased its cover price in September 2008, and noted in its article that the newspaper market in Britain has "seen a raft of price increases" in past months; however, it does not give an exact reason for the increase.

"To offset the impact of price rises, the Guardian and the Times have joined the Daily Telegraph in operating discount subscription schemes to readers that pay for their papers up front," the article states.

According to The Telegraph, the Guardian Media Group has "refused" to rule out job cuts at its national titles for the first time last week.