Los Angeles Times to Double Weekday Newsstand Price to 50

The Los Angeles Times, one of the last major metropolitan dailies selling for a quarter, announced Tuesday it is doubling its single-copy price in Southern California to 50 cents, effective March 5.

“This pricing action is in response to higher newsprint costs and general inflation, and reflects the high quality of The Times’ journalism,” said Times Publisher and President John Puerner.

The Times, acquired last year by Chicago-based Tribune Co., raised the single-copy price to 25 cents in 1979. In 1991 the single-copy price was hiked to 35 cents, then 50 cents briefly in 1995 before being lowered in mid-1996 to 25 cents.

The new price is “consistent with that of most other major metropolitan dailies,” The Times said in a statement.

The newsstand price of a Sunday paper will remain at $1.50, except in Orange County, where it remains at $1.25, a Times spokeswoman said.

Home-delivery subscription prices already had increased in January, to $4.50 per week from $4.14 for daily and Sunday delivery in Southern California except in Orange County, where it was hiked to $3.60 per week from $3.40.