Major Investment of £150M in Internet Strategy

Trinity Mirror PLC
17 March 2000



                   Trinity Mirror Announces Major Investment
                             in Internet Strategy

Trinity  Mirror plc ('Trinity Mirror'), the UK's largest newspaper  publisher,
today  announces  its  planned internet investment programme  of  up  to  £150
million  over  the next three years. The Group aims to capture  a  substantial
share of online advertising and e-commerce revenues through the development of
the  UK's leading 'local portal,' seamlessly integrating superior national and
local  content  and turning the traffic that this content will  generate  into
revenue.

Central  to this strategy is Trinity Mirror's existing revenue driving central
portal,  ic.   The Group intends that the ic network will become a significant
on-line destination providing users with independent consumer oriented  advice
that  is  not  driven  by  vested  interest  in  any  particular  retailer  or
manufacturer's  products.   It  will also provide  completely  secure  on-line
purchasing facilities for the Group's customers with continuous market-leading
offers.   The ic network will take all of the traffic and customers  generated
through  its regional and national sites and unite them into one of  the  UK's
largest communities of on-line users.

Commenting on the announcement, Philip Graf, Group Chief Executive of  Trinity
Mirror  said:  'We  are  confident  that the  combination  of  this  sustained
investment,   together  with  the  Group's  unique  offering  and   seamlessly
integrated  superior content, at both a national and local level, will  enable
Trinity  Mirror  to build on the initial success of ic24 to  become  the  UK's
leading  'local portal' and a critical component of local and common  interest
communities.'

The  Group  has  established a separate new media division,  headed  by  David
Clarke,  previously Managing Director of Virgin.Net.  Graham Mead  (previously
Director  of Marketing, Trinity Mirror Regional Newspapers) has recently  been
appointed   as   Managing  Director,  Regional  New  Media   to   manage   the
implementation of the regional aspects of the Group's new media strategy.

The  new  media  division is responsible for leveraging the  Group's  existing
national  and  regional brand strengths and core new media assets  to  further
develop  and  implement  the  Group's internet and  new  media  strategy.   It
currently  employs  approximately  100  staff,  all  of  whom  have  extensive
experience  in  the  fast  growing on-line or media  industries.  The  Group's
internet  development plans require this number of staff to increase  to  over
250 during the next 12 months.

Market Overview

Independent sources forecast the internet reaching 15 million homes by the end
of  the current year.  During 1999, on-line retail sales were in excess of  £3
billion and are forecast to increase to £10 billion for year 2000.  Using  the
volume of traffic that will be generated by its own monetising portal, and the
Group's  ability to profile the large number of customers it will  attract  to
its  sites,  Trinity  Mirror  will  develop  advertising  revenues  and  sales
commissions from a wide variety of on-line activities.

Existing New Media Assets

In  addition to the ic24 central portal, the Group's existing new media assets
include  national websites, such as The Mirror site, and a series of  regional
sites,  based  on the Group's local newspapers' content and expertise.   These
sites  currently generate over 40 million page impressions in total  a  month;
the most visited sites are the ic24 portal, Sporting Life and the Racing Post.

To  date,  there  has  been  limited investment in the  Group's  national  and
regional new media operations (only £6 million in 1999).  The Group's internet
strategy is to link these activities and develop them into a coherent network,
offering a consistent, branded and high quality product to consumers.

ic24

Launched in April 1999, ic24 is already in the top five UK portals in terms of
advertising  revenues.  During 2000, the Group expects  to  generate  over  £7
million  of advertising revenue.  In the first two months of 2000,  the  Group
has  already  sold over £2 million of advertising for delivery in the  current
year.

This portal will now aggregate traffic from all the Group's sites into
revenue- generating  channels, as well as generating significant  traffic  in 
its  own right.  ic24 will offer a popular mix of lifestyle and entertainment
channels, selected  for their potential to generate advertising and e-commerce
revenues. It  will  take  a  'consumer champion' position in all the  subject 
areas  it covers:  entertainment,  consumer, lifestyle, news, offering 
excellent  value services  to customers and advice on a wide variety of
topics.  The Group  has recruited  the management team who were responsible
for producing Virgin.Net's award winning content to develop its own central
portal content.

ic24  is  also  an  internet service provider ('ISP') and handles  substantial
levels  of web traffic: over 215,000 access customers and more than 12 million
page impressions a month.  As a result of its ISP services, Trinity Mirror  is
able  to more effectively profile its users and market to them on a one-to-one
basis which is key to attracting advertising customers.

Already  at  the forefront of providing free telephony time, the Group's  free
weekend  telephony programmes have been effective since last October.  Evening
and  weekend use currently account for around 80% of home internet usage  and,
to  meet  this  demand, the Group will shortly introduce  an  additional  free
weekday evening programme, as well as continuing with its free access service.
The  Group's programmes are already operational and do not require the Group's
customers  to  move from their existing telephone supplier  for  their  normal
telephone calls. Trinity Mirror believes that, today, it has the best  overall
telephone/internet access offering, as supported by the recent article in MMXI
Europe and Internet magazine (March 2000).

Roll Out Plans

Within  the next twelve months, Trinity Mirror plans to roll out 16 ic portals
in  all  major regions. The Group's routes to market, access to local  content
and  existing  status  in local communities give it an  excellent  competitive
advantage in these areas.

Its  local  sites  will become the core of the local internet  community  they
serve.   In addition to local news and sport, they will provide users  with  a
comprehensive  'what's on' guide for all ages, the ability  to  book  tickets,
make  a  reservation at a restaurant or arrange a tee time at the  golf  club.
They  will  also  provide facilities to buy a wide variety  of  products  from
local,  national or global merchants, and have the definitive  local  business
directories.  Trinity Mirror is confident that this will encourage and  enable
local communities to use the internet to its maximum potential.

Trinity Mirror will develop all its local sites into industry leading regional
portals based on a common, leading-edge technology platform. This will  enable
these  sites  to be major contributors to the ic24 network - in terms  of  the
quality  content  they offer, the traffic they attract and  the  revenue  they
generate.   The  first beta site, icScotland, launches on 22 March  2000  with
substantial microsite and local advertising revenue opportunities.

Customers  accessing  the ic network, whether through the  central  portal  or
though  any  of the Group's other sites, will be able to move seamlessly  from
one site to another.

National Websites

Already  popular  due  to  their  established  brands,  the  Group's  national
newspaper websites, The Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Scottish Daily Record,  will
also be enhanced. Plans include greater involvement from columnists to provide
web-specific editorial.

Sporting.coms

Another  key  element in Trinity Mirror's new media strategy  is  the  further
development of its sporting.coms.

The  Group  is working with its shareholder partner to develop the PA/Sporting
Life site into the UK's leading general sports portal.

The  Racing  Post website was re-launched in October 1999 as a  free-to-market
site,  having  previously been a subscription-only  service.   This  move  has
resulted  in  a  significant increase in registered users from 1,200  to  over
41,000 attracted by the credibility and independence of the Racing Post brand.
The site's e-commerce potential is illustrated by the rise in page impressions
already achieved from 1 million in October 1999 to the current level of over 8
million per month.

Other  income  streams  include  advertising and  sponsorship  deals.   Future
developments  for  the  Racing Post website will focus  on  strengthening  its
status  as a leading supplier of racing and sports betting information in  any
form. This includes offering visitors the facility to interact directly with a
number of major UK bookmaker.  Visitors will be able to compare the live  odds
offered  on a wide range of sporting events and to place a bet in a matter  of
seconds  with  their preferred bookmaker.  Income to the Racing Post  will  be
derived  from  a percentage of the betting turnover generated and negotiations
are at an advanced stage with a number of leading bookmakers.

Technology and Content Partnerships

PC-based  internet,  interactive  digital television  and  mobile  phone-based
technologies are set to be extremely important ways of delivering content  and
services to customers.  The Group is currently in discussions with a number of
parties  with  the intention of developing relevant partnerships with  leading
edge  technology  and  content  providers to ensure  the  quality,  depth  and
compatibility of its services.

Investment

The  planned  investment  in  2000 is in respect of  £44  million  of  revenue
expenditure  (primarily promotion and marketing, technology and staff  costs),
£5  million  of capital expenditure and up to £3 million of further investment
in  existing  joint  ventures  such  as Fish4  and  PA  Sporting  Life.   This
investment  programme  does  not however reflect the  benefit  of  £7  million
anticipated  revenue income in 2000 or revenue income in  future  years.   The
Group's objective is to significantly increase this revenue year-on-year.

In   addition   to  this  anticipated  £150  million  three  year  investment,
significant opportunities exist for marketing and cross promotion  within  the
Group's own national and local newspapers.

David  Clarke,  Managing  Director  of Trinity  Mirror  New  Media,  comments:
'Trinity Mirror is committed to the development of its new media business  and
has  a clear and focused strategy in place. We intend to continue implementing
and  developing our internet and new media strategy quickly, but with quality,
to capture substantial UK online advertising and e-commerce revenues.'

Enquiries:
Philip Graf/David Clarke/Nick Fullagar       Tel: [phone]
Trinity Mirror plc

Rupert Younger/James Leviton (Media)
Justine Samuel/Katie Evans (Investors)       Tel: [phone]
Finsbury