La Opinion gets on bus under deal with Transit TV Network.

Los Angeles Metro transit commuters who since last summer have been able to catch up on national and world news via special TV monitors on selected buses now also will get a slice of local news--if they can read Spanish, that is.

Los Angeles' Spanish-language newspaper La Opinion has struck a deal with Transit Television Network LLC to provide a digest of stories from that morning's edition to be displayed in text as part of a one-hour broadcast that repeats throughout the day.

Under the agreement, La Opinion, the nation's largest daily Spanish-language newspaper with an audited circulation of around 125,000, becomes the exclusive Spanish-language news provider for 1,750 Metro buses equipped with TV monitors, which receive the morning report and an afternoon update via satellite. Transit Television executives are in talks with local television stations about adding local English-language video content to the show.

Orlando, Fla.-based Transit Television has a 10-year contract with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, in addition to similar agreements in five other cities. The company by June expects to have 2,400 L.A. buses equipped with the monitors that can reach a half-million Metro riders daily, 67 percent of whom are Hispanic.

The authority receives a share of advertising revenues from the service, with General Mills Inc. and Paramount Pictures, a division of Viacom Inc., among major advertisers.

"Some advertisers look at it as an outdoor advertising buy, but most see it like buying a local or cable TV spot and that's how we've positioned it in the market," said Gerry Noble, chief executive of Transit Television, a subsidiary of Toronto-based Torstar Corp.

What La Opinion, which is owned by New York-based ImpreMedia LLC., gets from the arrangement is exposure to potential newspaper readers and additional publication platforms, an increasingly important goal for all print publications.

"It's a way for us to extend the brand," said Publisher Monica Lozano, noting that in addition to adding video clips to its Web site, her paper soon will offer podcasts and wireless versions of the paper. "We've redefined our business in a way that our number 1 asset is content, and we're moving into multiple delivery forms of that content."