• by Paul Gough , February 23, 2004

The Spanish-language newspaper war is about to begin in the nation's largest Hispanic market.

Tribune Co. announced Monday that it would start publishing the daily Hoy in Los Angeles on Monday, March 1. The tabloid newspaper will be published Monday through Friday and will be available for a quarter at 7,000 locations throughout the Los Angeles basin, which is home to nearly 7 million Hispanics.

Tribune executives have kept its debut and target circulation figures close to their vest, but it's expected to be an almost instant rival to the other Spanish-language daily, La Opinion. La Opinion has a daily circulation of 124,000, which is more than the circulation of Hoy's already-published editions in both New York (94,000 daily and 35,000 Sunday) and Chicago (18,000).

Until last month, Tribune owned 50 percent of La Opinion. It sold its half--which it had held for 14 years--back to the family that started the paper in 1926. La Opinion subsequently merged with CPK Media Holdings, which acquired the daily El Diario-La Prensa in New York in July 2003. El Diario-La Prensa competes with Tribune's Hoy in New York, and has a circulation of about 50,000.

Tribune said Monday that Hoy would have four zoned editions with news and advertising for Los Angeles, Orange County/Long Beach, San Gabriel/Inland Empire, and San Fernando. The daily paper will be about 40 pages. There will be eight pages of sports coverage every day, along with a shot of entertainment news. The weekend guide, Vida Hoy, will be published on Fridays, and will feature restaurants, events, music, TV, movies, and other entertainment topics. There will also be pages of news from Central America, South America, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean.

Weekly features include an extra sports section on Mondays, travel on Tuesdays, food and health on Wednesdays, and style/fashion and education on Thursdays.

"With a proven record in New York and Chicago, we're confident that Hoy will be well-received by Hispanic readers and advertisers in the Los Angeles area also," said Louis Sito, vice president of Hispanic media for Tribune Publishing.

The Los Angeles tabloid is Tribune's third Spanish-language daily in the United States. Tribune began the New York edition of Hoy in November 1998, and it passed El Diario-La Prensa as New York's biggest-selling Spanish-language daily in March 2001. The Chicago Hoy began in September 2003, when Tribune converted a weekly to daily publication.