 | | | Los Angeles Times, La Opinión Will Discontinue "Bundling" Promotion | LOS ANGELES, Aug. 21, 2000 -- The Los Angeles Times and La Opinión newspapers announced today that they will cease bundling the two newspapers and selling the combined package at La Opinión news racks and retail outlets, effective Sept. 4, 2000.
Both newspapers mutually agreed to end the bundling arrangement, which was part of a year-long marketing and distribution promotion, and focus on expanding home delivery of the combined newspapers.
"The bundling agreement with La Opinión was an excellent way to expose The Times to new readers," said John Puerner, publisher of the Los Angeles Times. "We will continue to sell The Times throughout the market, but focus on home delivery, which has the greatest potential for long-term circulation growth."
"We enjoy a close working relationship with The Times and we are excited by the obvious success of the year-long distribution program," said Jose Lozano, publisher, La Opinión. "Now we will re-deploy the resources we used for the bundling project to take advantage of the opportunities we now see in the home-delivery market."
Both newspapers said that concerns about meeting Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) reporting standards with the bundled product were part of the decision to end the marketing and distribution promotion.
Single-copy buyers of The Times and La Opinión will now pay the regular price of 25 cents for each newspaper in selected areas. During the bundled newspaper promotion, readers paid 35 cents for the combination package.
"Purchasers of the final bundled editions will be receiving offers for combination subscriptions to both newspapers," said Lozano. "We will continue working closely with The Times in a joint program to promote home delivery subscriptions."
Founded on September 16, 1926, in Los Angeles, La Opinión is the nation's largest Spanish-language daily newspaper. It circulates throughout the five-county Southern California area and reaches more than 600,000 readers each day. The newspaper posted an 11 percent increase in daily circulation figures during the last year for the second audit in a row and an 8 percent increase in its Sunday circulation for the period ending March 31, 2000 (source: ABC Audit). Tribune Publishing Company owns 50 percent of Lozano Communications Inc. More information on La Opinión is available on the Internet at www.laopinion.com.
The Los Angeles Times, a Tribune Publishing Company newspaper, has won 24 Pulitzer Prizes and is the largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the country. It publishes four daily regional editions -- covering Los Angeles metropolitan area, the San Fernando Valley, and Orange and Ventura counties - as well as the National Edition.
Tribune Company (NYSE: TRB) is a leading media company with businesses in 23 major U.S. markets, including 18 of the top 30. Through its television and radio broadcasting, publishing and interactive operations, Tribune reaches nearly 80 percent of U.S. households daily. Tribune Publishing is the third-largest U.S. newspaper group in circulation. More information on Tribune is available on the Internet at www.tribune.com. | |