The Register Launches New LA Newspaper

LOS ANGELES (AP/CBSLA.com) — A new daily newspaper has hit the streets - and the computer screens - of Los Angeles.

Editors and staffers handed out free copies of the Los Angeles Register early Wednesday at downtown locations including City Hall and the Union Station rail and bus transit hub.

The paper - which will cost $1.50 on weekdays and $2 for weekend editions - is expected to be available at over 5,000 retail locations throughout Los Angeles County, including grocery and convenience stores and on news racks, according to the OC Register. Home delivery is scheduled to begin in May.

An online edition of The Register also launched earlier this month and features a masthead and layout similar to the Orange County version.

The expansion marks the latest move by Freedom Communications Inc., owner of the Orange County Register, and follows the introduction of the Long Beach Register and several other small papers in the last year or so.

The debut edition's front page offerings included a story on the amenities and prestige of downtown skyscraper rooftops, and an explanation of why the newspaper was launched, referring to itself as "the new voice of L.A."

It's the first direct challenge to the 132-year-old Los Angeles Times' home market since the Herald-Examiner folded in November 1989.

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