Expect a surfeit of noise, as PBL moves into negotiation mode after officially abandoning plans to set up an Australian print plant for its ACP Magazines (writes Peter Coleman). The reality is that with the passing of the March 31 deadline set to realise plans for its own plant in time to take over production from the present stop-gap arrangements with PMP Print, the focus is on finding suitable capacity for its work, at the right price. Most of the comments made in the last few days should be read in that context. The usual suspects have been prominent, among them PMP chief executive Richard Allely, ostensibly hopeful of improving on the already advantageous deal he had done to print the ACP titles while the publisher set up its own production. There’s a lot of work at stake, the 80-plus stable including magazine institutions such as the ‘Australian Women’s Weekly’ and ‘Woman’s Day’, and in the present interregnum it is currently distributed around a number of printers including semicommercial newspaper sites. And yes, of course PBL are also talking to Michael Hannan's IPMG Printing and the Blue Star Print Group. But few industry insiders subscribe to the conspiracy theory that says the group – which also owns Channel 9 television network – talked up the idea of printing its own publications just to get a better print contract. The ironic reality is that even though it controlled the work it planned to print, the highly-geared PBL was unable to satisfactorily finance the equipment needed. A number of proposals were studied with vendors including Goss International – which was able to supply both presses and much of the finishing gear needed – and a combination of manroland heatset presses with Ferag postpress. And, as widely publicised, documents had recently been submitted to the to the NSW planning department for a 54,000 m2 plant in western Sydney. Allely is quoted describing the time and money spent on plans for its own print site as an “expensive exercise”… but it’s hardly likely that he would have publicly admitted any value in the idea. Now he has the challenge of persuading PBL that he has the right kit – including presses with the right cut-offs – to produce the ACP titles in the formats, and with the flexibility they want… and to the satisfaction of his shareholders. He’s not alone.