If you only need this once a day, why not simply restore a backup to the reporting server. You should be able to automate this using SQL Server Agent.

FYI : replication does support initialising the subscriber from a database backup - have a look at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms147834.aspx

Transactional replication definitely is an option. You can set this up so that it runs continuously or when scheduled (e.g. during off peak time) if needed. Transaction replication only sends insert/update/deletes for tables that have been changed (ie. tables that have had inserts/updates/deletes done to them in the published database).