News Corp Australia is in discussions with print staff at its two south east Queensland print operations with plans afoot to consolidate the Yandina and Murarrie production sites into one.

The move comes after over 100 News Corp regional and suburban publications were transitioned into digital-only formats last month.

Marcus Hooke, News Corp’s executive general manager production, logistics and property, said that the digital switch had led to an excess in production capacity for the media giant.

“Since the transition to digital-only mastheads we simply don’t have the same demand and are now facing excess production capacity,” Hooke said.

The discussions with production staff at Yandina and Murarrie began on Tuesday and are expected to conclude within a fortnight.

“We are working closely with our employees to ensure the best possible outcomes for them all.”

Since transitioning to digital, News Corp Australia has reported a strong uptick in demand for subscriptions, selling about 8000 across  the 76 mastheads that shifted to digital-only over the past four weeks, up about 200 per cent on the same time last year.

In 2018 News Corp and the then-Fairfax Media agreed to share print facilities in a bid to cut costs.

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