Another Spanish-Language Paper for L.A.

A Los Angeles edition of the Spanish-language daily Hoy will be launched in March, Tribune Co. said Monday.

The announcement came on the heels of a report last week that the parent companies of La Opinion, the dominant Spanish-language daily in Los Angeles, and El Diario/La Prensa, a New York newspaper published in Spanish, would join forces and expand their empire through acquisitions.

Tribune already publishes editions of Hoy in Chicago and New York. The 5-year-old newspaper, with total circulation of 94,000, is the second-largest Spanish-language newspaper in the country after La Opinion. Tribune also owns the Los Angeles Times.

“Hoy will bring news and information to Los Angeles Hispanics with a focus on their local communities, and also provide them with news from their native countries,” said Louis Sito, publisher of Hoy.

The newspaper will devote pages each day to news from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Central and South America and the Caribbean.

Los Angeles is the largest Spanish-language market in the country, said Sito, where 8 million people identify themselves as Latino. Publishing in Los Angeles “has always been part of our strategy,” he said.

The company has yet to decide how many copies of Hoy will be printed each day. Sito did say he expected to hire about 60 journalists and 40 advertising and support workers to produce the Los Angeles edition. The paper will be headquartered downtown.

Available Monday through Friday, Hoy will sell for a quarter throughout the Los Angeles area in vending boxes, at newsstands and in retail outlets.