- Gannett Co. of Arlington, Va., funds away.com, a leading online adventure travel service, with several other investors, including Circle T Partners of New York and Chicago-based New World Ventures. Investors provided $17 million for this third financing round.
- Gannett Co. of Arlington, Va., also invests in space.com, a Manhattan-based company with a stargazing Web site. As part of the deal, space.com acquires Gannett-owned spacenews.com and Space News, an industry newspaper.
- ZonaFinanciera.com, a personal finance marketplace for Spanish and Portuguese-speaking consumers that counts The Washington Post among its funders, signs a five-year agreement for Citibank to provide financial products and services to Internet users in Latin America.
- Tribune Ventures, the strategic investment unit of Tribune Co. of Chicago, invests in Dynamic Trade, providers of performance-based online marketing services. The terms of the investment were not disclosed. Tribune Ventures also invests $2 million in DailyShopper Network, a promotional network of local and national retail advertisers. DailyShopper content will appear on Tribune Web sites before the year's end (Ad Age, Oct. 9).
- Knight Ridder of San Jose, Pulitzer Inc. of St. Louis and Gannett Co. of Arlington, Va., are among investors providing $8.5 million to fund Everstream, a Cleveland-based provider of localized Internet broadcasting (The Digital Edge).
- Torstar Corp., publisher of the Toronto Star, Hamilton Spectator and Kitchener-Waterloo Record, signs letter of intent to invest $2.4 million (Canadian) for a 10 percent equity position in Cold North Wind, an Internet-based collection of searchable images of newspapers dating from the 1700s. The letter also provides for Torstar to enter into a two-year, $5.25 million (Canadian) service agreement with Cold North Wind to digitize Torstar's microfilm archives back to the newspaper's inception in 1892.
New York Times Co. withdraws its S-3 registration statement for its proposed public offering of a tracking stock intended to reflect the performance of New York Times Digital, its Internet business division. Company officials cited unfavorable conditions in the public equities market as the reason for the withdrawal.
The Web site for the San Jose Mercury News becomes a Real Cities site, BayArea.com. Visitors to MercuryCenter.com are automatically forwarded to the new Web address. This transition is just the beginning as KnightRidder.com plans to integrate all its online newspapers into its city and regional Web sites through the Real Cities network.
AT&T will build a state-of-the-art communications network to support the Tribune Co. of Chicago's media operations, including broadcasting, publishing and interactive.
Classified Ventures lays off 40 people, or about 8 percent of its 500-person staff (The Digital Edge).
Tribune Interactive lays off 20 employees across all divisions at latimes.com as well as 14 other employees at various Tribune Interactive offices in Chicago (inside.com).
eBay looks for a TV series that would allow viewers to purchase items such as artwork and cars via their television sets. There is speculation eBay will sign a contract with ABC because eBay recent partnered with Disney, ABC's parent company, to create a Web site that auctions items from the Magic Kingdom and othe Disney properties (Inside.com).
To compete with newspaper-affiliated Web sites that are creating nearly live coverage of National Football League games, the NFL signs an agreement with Yahoo.com's broadcasting division to stream live play-by-play coverage of its games (The Digital Edge, CNET News.com).
Radio and television broadcasters up the ante to capture Internet-generated revenue. Koz.com plans to build Web sites for 108 Citadel Communications radio stations while Real Media sells ads across the network and Coollink Broadcast Network serves and sells ads on some streaming media feeds of stations' programming.
Five major radio companies--Emmis Communications, Entercom Communications, Jefferson-Pilot, privately held Bonneville International and Canada's Corus Entertainment--combine to establish Local Media Internet Venture. The new company hopes to gain revenue from the classified ad business that now goes to newspapers (Internetnews.com, CBS.MarketWatch.com).
E-recruiter.com partners with netPCS Networks (netpcs.com) to allow its clients to use Web consoles, telephones and wireless devices to connect live with job applicants (Internetnews.com).
Morris Communications will use Nescrow Technologies Inc. to counter fraud, create security and streamline consumer-to-consumer and business-to-business sales on the Internet, particularly auctions and classified ads (The Digital Edge).
DoubleClick, a New York-based online advertiser, acquires @plan.inc, a web market research company. The cash and stock deal ,valued at $120 million, allows DoubleClick to form a research arm that could give advertisers more intelligence about Web consumers' habits (The New York Times, 9/25).
New York Times Digital launches NYT Mobile, a 24-hour news, information and entertainment service that will provide content from NYTimes.com. The product is provided by Sprint PCS and is built on wireless application protocol.
Globeandmail.com kicks off a $5 million national brand advertising campaign aimed at exposing consumers to the Web sites, including globeinvestor.com, globefund.com and workpolis.com, globemegawheels.com and globetechnology.com. The sites are identified by a red dot on their logos (Internetnews.com).
AutoTrader.com and NBC Internet Inc. (NBCi.com) sign an agreement that AutoTrader.com will pay NBCi.com to become the automotive classified ads provider and premier anchor on NBCi's new consumer portal service (The Digital Edge).
AdStar.com signs distribution agreements with rental.com, BuySellBid.com and GovernmentJobs.com allowing users access to Advertise123.com's Web-based newspaper classified ad placement services.
CityXpress.com Corp., a developer of integrated advertising, promotional and e-commerce solutions for media, enters into a loan and security agreement with Lee Enterprises, its major customer. Lee operates 24 daily newspapers and more than 100 weekly newspapers and classified ad, shopper and specialty publications.
Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, The Washington Post and Post Newsweek Tech Media Group launch Washtech.com, an Internet resource for technology in the Washington metropolitan area.
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ONLINE
Newspapers' online moves continue:
- Nando Media, the interactive division of The McClatchy Co. of Sacramento, partners with Videoaxs to provide streaming video news to Nando's flagship Web sitesÑThe Nando Times (nandotimes.com), The Sports Server (sportserver.com) and McClatchy's online newspaper sites, including the Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News, The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee and Star Tribune in Minneapolis.
- Two newspaper companiesÑPaddock Publications, publisher of the Daily Herald and Hollinger Publications, publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times, The Daily Southtown, Star Newspapers, Post Tribune and Pioneer Press weekliesÑjoin with the Chicago Automobile Trade Association to launch DriveChicago.com, an online source for researching and purchasing new and used cars in the Chicago area. The site's content is fueled by inventories of hundreds of local car dealerships plus the automotive classified ads from the newspaper partners. Meanwhile, General Motors Corp. forms a joint venture with its U.S. dealers to sell all of its cars and trucks from a Web site that legally would be separate from GM (The Digital Edge, Reuters).
- The San Diego Union-Tribune allows customers to place classified ads in print or online using the Web with real-time pricing and proofing with GDT-Nova's AdEZ.
- Detroit Newspapers launch a virtual career fair program at MichiganJobHunter.com that allows visitors to view job listings and company profiles, post their resumes or connect by e-mail with participating firms.
- KnightRidder.com opens an online store at its ThatsRacing.com, which provides daily news and information about NASCAR racing. eFANshop will operate the store.
- Azcentral.com, the Web site of The Arizona Republic, offers local Arizona Cardinal fans an interactive online game that lets them compete for cash prizes during football games by quickly reenacting the same plays on their computer screen that the Cardinals just made a few minutes before. The virtual football game debuted on Sept 3 and will be held during every televised game this season (The Digital Edge).
- Newsday launches "Business E-dition" on newsday.com, providing up-to-the-minute, comprehensive business and technology news.
- USAToday partners with Web-delivery service Kozmo.com to provide one-hour delivery of USAToday to homes in 11 cities, including Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Seattle.
- The Star Tribune in Minneapolis and the Denver Post become the first distribution partners for Word of Mouth, a Boulder-based Internet company creating a network of local consumer opinion Web sites. A link to Word of Mouth appears on the homepages of both newspapers' Web sites.
Extended
New Media Index
An Ongoing Wrap-Up of Key Developments on the Interactive Frontier
More recent news items are at the beginning of each section. For just
the most recent news, visit the NAA New Media Federation's Digital
Edge. Also be sure to read Presstime's monthly new-media
commentary.
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[ Strategic Moves | Online-Newspapers | Public Policy | Trends | TV/Video | Technology | People ] |
"The Internet is not a replacement for current information delivery models but an extension of them: Statistics show that most users of online newspapers visit them to get complementary information to something they've seen in the printed publication."
--Andreas Pfeiffer, The Pfeiffer Report on Emerging Trends and Technologies
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STRATEGIC MOVES
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General Motors Corp. is looking to Tribune Co.'s BlackVoices.com to strengthen brand recognition.BlackVoices.com and GM have formed a three-year strategic-marketing alliance. BlackVoices.com will create three new sections on its World Wide Web site: Centerpiece, a multimedia look at news for African Americans; Sports Channel, providing updates on sports and lifestyles at America's historically black colleges and universities, as well as other sporting figures and events of interest to African Americans; and GM Spotlight on Excellence, a GM-sponsored feature showcasing African American community and professional leaders. GM also will sponsor Auto Corner, a channel within BlackVoices.com devoted to automobile owners and enthusiasts. Auto Corner members can get advice on purchasing and financing new vehicles, and participate in online chats with GM engineers and executives. GM plans to use BlackVoices Career Center to identify and recruit African American professionals and minority suppliers. Meanwhile, GM isn't the only corporation courting BlackVoices.com. The site projects ad sales of $7 million to $10 million this year, up from almost $3 million in 1999. Johnson & Johnson and Maybelline have advertised on the site, while Boeing Co., Motorola Corp. and Pfizer have purchased recruitment-ad packages (The Digital Edge, Ad Age). |
Newspapers invest online:
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PUBLIC POLICY
Federal antitrust attorneys say they will block the proposed $165-billion merger of American Online Inc. and Time Warner Inc. unless the companies agree to let competitors use their high-speed cable lines. Federal regulators may also force AOL to allow rivals to use its popular instant-messaging service (AP; CBS.Marketwatch.com).
A United Nations arbitrator ordered a Pennsylvania man to give Dow Jones and Co. two Internet addresses, wallstreetjounal.com and wallstreetjournel.com, based on the misspellings of the newspaper's name. The sites had been used to create unauthorized links to the paper's online edition (AP).
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TRENDS
San Francisco is the most wired U.S. city with 66 percent of its residents connected to the Internet from home computers, finds a new study by Nielsen/NetRatings. The study shows 21 citiesÑSan Francisco, Seattle, San Diego, Portland, Ore., Washington, D.C., Boston, Denver, Kansas City, Orlando, Baltimore, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Dallas, Columbus, St. Louis, Hartford/New Haven, Sacramento Indianapolis, New York, Los Angeles and TampaÑhave hit the halfway mark for Internet hook-ups. Six months ago only five citiesÑSan Francisco, Seattle, San Diego, Portland, Ore., and Washington, D.C.Ñhad a majority of residents connected to the Internet (CNET News.com).
Internet executives question the accuracy of Web site measurement firms such as Media Metrics, NetRatings and PC Data and their use of sampling to estimate Web site traffic. For instance, executives wonder if study participants are including too many experienced Internet users or too few participants in offices (sfgate.com).
Online ad spending rose 161 percent in 1999 from $1.7 billion to $4.6 billion, finds a study by the Internet Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Projections anticipate online ad expenditures swelling to more than $43 billion in the next four years (TechWeb.com)
Individuals with Internet access still rate newspapers as a more important information source than the Internet, finds a survey by the University of California, Los Angeles, Center for Communication Policy. In comparison, television and radio were rated as not as important an information source as the Internet (Ifra Newswatch).
--Compiled by Lisa Rabasca, Presstime Staff Writer.