By: Joe Strupp The
Los Angeles Times plans to launch in the spring its fifth regional edition, which will focus on the Inland Empire's fast-growing Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
The new edition adds another combatant in the already competitive Inland Empire area, which has long been home to
The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, owned by Belo, and the
San Bernardino County Sun, owned by MediaNews Group Inc.
"It's a huge market, and parts of it have very strong affinities to Los Angeles," John Puerner,
L.A. Times CEO, publisher, and president, said in a statement to
E&P. "I think it could represent an important source of future, consistent, regular circulation growth."
The edition will be launched in late April or early May, executives said.
L.A. Times spokeswoman Martha Goldstein declined to say how much the newspaper is expected to spend on the new venture. Currently, the
Times operates a Riverside bureau with two news staffers. Sources said at least six reporters likely will occupy the site for the new edition.
Now, the
Times has four regional editions targeting Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley, Ventura County, and Orange County, each of which compete with another daily paper. The
Times also publishes a national edition and circulates its Los Angeles edition in the Inland Empire.
"The
Times is recognizing that it has been extremely ... negligent in the Inland Empire,"
Sun Publisher Robert Gray said of the
Times' decision to expand. "I believe it will be extremely costly for them to make any headway with how entrenched the
Sun is here and
The Press-Enterprise is in Riverside."
Joe Frederickson, vice president of marketing and public affairs for
The Press-Enterprise, said the
Times edition's success or failure will be determined by "content, pricing strategy, and promotion."
The Inland Empire is an attractive newspaper market because of its ongoing growth: San Bernardino County's population grew by 20.5% between 1990 and 2000, and Riverside County's increased by 32% over the same decade, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. California's overall population increased by only 13.6% in the same period.
The area's population rise is reflected in recent circulation gains by both
The Press-Enterprise and the
Sun, according to Audit Bureau of Circulations. In the ABC FAS-FAX report for the six months ended Sept. 30,
The Press-Enterprise's daily circulation jumped to 178,994 from 168,771 a year earlier, and the
Sun's weekday circulation rose to 74,540 from 72,261 over the same period.
Meanwhile, the
Times' daily circ inched up to 1,006,130 from 1,001,610. The
Times currently has 33,592 copies in daily circulation in Riverside County and a 46,014 copies in daily circulation in San Bernardino County, according to ABC.
The
Times' Inland Empire edition comes two years after it folded its 14 "Our Times" weekly community supplements, which were inserted in copies of the
Times in some areas.
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