A major publisher is calling for extra financial help for local newsagents, which sell around 70% of the magazines bought in Britain.

Former deputy Prime Minister and ex-president of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Lord Heseltine, is owner of the Haymarket publishing group, which produces 100 magazines.

He wants the magazine industry to raise an "administration levy" on itself, to help with the cost of placing magazines in small newsagents. Recent research suggested that many local shops felt publishers spent their marketing resources on the big supermarkets, while smaller outlets were ignored and forced to pay high delivery costs.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is currently preparing a new Opinion on newspaper and magazine distribution, due to be published next month. You can read about its preliminary findings here.