Expect more video on LATimes.com and sharing of video between the paper and Channel 5, with KTLA producing local news segments for the website through the day. Here's this afternoon's staff memo from Joel Sappell, the editor in charge of LATimes.com:

From: Sappell, Joel
Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 4:07 PM
To: zzAll LATimes Employees
Subject: latimes.com Video

Colleagues,

Video is a vital component in delivering news to online visitors. Increasingly, they want to choose how they consume information, and we must continue to innovate to keep latimes.com editorially relevant and financially successful.

Today, we're implementing a new and improved latimes.com video strategy. We'll be giving our audience better and faster access to local breaking news and features through an upgraded video player on the homepage and throughout the site. The effort also will mark the beginning of a new, creative partnership with our sister company KTLA and, come early 2007, we'll be operating a full-fledged video portal.

Working with The Times online editorial staff, KTLA will now produce local news web segments for our new quick-loading flash player. Posted in the morning and early afternoon, these two-minute updates will offer latimes.com visitors relevant, tailored insight into what's happening in Southern California. In addition to our existing AP video, we'll also expand our national news video offering with CNN content. All local segments will also appear on KTLA's website.

The embedded player also gives us the ability to showcase pieces produced by our own multimedia folks, many of them featuring Times writers who deserve a much higher profile in the online world. For example, debuting today is a video version of Susan Carpenter's popular "Throttle Jockey" motorcycle column. Next week, Pulitzer Prize-winner Dan Neil will take his "Rumble Seat" car reviews straight to video. Ideas for other features from throughout the organization are welcomed.

Early next year, we're set to launch a more robust, customizable video player - a version 2.0 if you will. At that time, we'll significantly ramp up our partnership with KTLA to provide a crucial element in our dedication to being Southern California's premiere destination for local coverage.

The editorial and business staffs of latimes.com are dedicated - as you are - to rapid innovation across all fronts. We appreciate the outpouring of ideas and visions that you've already offered for our future development and are working on several other rich offerings to ensure we're providing readers accessibility and significance in multiple formats.

More to come,

Joel Sappell
Executive Editor/Interactive