Orange County Register owner ends publication of Long Beach newspaper after 16 months

The owners of the Orange County Register say they ended publication of the Long Beach Register on Sunday.

Freedom Communications launched the Long Beach Register 16 months ago and the Los Angeles Register this year as part of its aggressive effort to enter the huge newspaper market of neighboring Los Angeles County, currently dominated by the Los Angeles Times and a number of daily local papers owned by the Los Angeles News Group.

In June, Freedom reduced publication of the Long Beach Register from six issues per week to just one, and inserting the stand-alone section within the Sunday edition of the Orange County Register. At that time, the publisher also announced expense cuts, including furloughs and voluntary buyouts from employees.

The Los Angeles Register ceased publication after five months.