Los Angeles Times to sell ads on Page One

LOS ANGELES, July 14 (UPI) -- A steep revenue decline is forcing The Los Angeles Times to break with tradition and sell ads on its front page, said Publisher David Hiller.

No date has been set, but when it happens, The Times will become the largest metropolitan paper in the United States to put ads on Page One, the newspaper said Saturday.

Advertisers have many "choices about where to spend their money," Hiller said. "We aren't the only game in town anymore."

In the second quarter, ad revenue fell 10 percent and cash flow dropped 27 percent, "making it one of the worst quarters ever experienced," Hiller said Friday.

The Times' corporate parent, the Chicago-based Tribune Co., plans to sell Page One ads at its 10 other newspapers as well. Tribune's South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale got an "incredible response" from advertisers when it began selling front-page ads earlier this year, said a Tribune spokesman.

Times Editor James O'Shea opposed the plan, saying ads on Page One would "be a huge mistake that will penalize the reader."