Times spokesman Jonathan Slevin said that outsourcing printing became the newspaper's only option given its limited space and the prohibitive cost of expanding press capacity. The Times' larger competitor, The Washington Post, said in February that it will close its College Park printing plant in 2010 after two presses are moved to a facility in Springfield, Va.
The Sun's more modern presses will allow the Times to print six sections instead of four, print more pages, have more color, print more quickly and do more zoning, said Dick Amberg, associate publisher and general manager of the Times.
"The economies of scale from printing two metropolitan papers at one plant lower costs while also providing more advertising opportunities and special section availabilities," Amberg said in an internal e-mail to Times staffers that was posted on Politico.com.
