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Tribune Interactive Converts 25 Broadcasting
Websites to State-of-the-Art Online Publishing Platform
Provides
valuable programming information and highlights; gives viewers
more opportunities to interact online; and automates content
sharing with Tribune newspapers
CHICAGO, April 30, 2002 -- Tribune
Interactive, Inc., a leader in interactive news and information
Web sites and a subsidiary of Tribune Company (NYSE:TRB),
today announced the conversion of 25 television station and
cable channel Web sites to a proprietary content management
and publishing platform known internally as Oxygen. Sites
include major market stations such as wgntv.com
(WGN-TV, Chicago), ktla.com
(KTLA-TV, Los Angeles) and wb11.com
(WPIX-TV, New York).
The platform provides the 25 broadcasting sites
with a common content production technology and content management
system. It helps the stations provide valuable programming
information and highlights; more opportunities for viewers
to interact online; and news stories and headlines from Tribune's
award-winning newspapers. It also creates standard advertising
units that enable advertisers to buy online ads, such as banners,
tiles and standard rich-media advertisements, on Tribune Interactive's
entire network of more than 40 Web sites. That network includes
25 broadcasting sites, 11 daily newspaper sites and specialty
sites like BlackVoices.com,
ChicagoSports.com
and Metromix.com.
"This marks yet another technology milestone
at Tribune Interactive," said David Hiller, president
of Tribune Interactive. "In November 2001, Tribune completed
implementation of the unified platform on our 11 daily newspaper
sites. With the addition of the broadcast sites, we're now
able to converge Tribune's multimedia content in ways television
viewers and Web users want to receive it online. At the same
time, we're making efficient use of local and national Web
development and editorial resources."
Provides network programming information and
highlights
Tribune owns and operates 23 television station sites -16
are WB affiliates and six are Fox affiliate stations. Each
provides an online outlet for network programming news, information
and promotions. All of the WB affiliate station Web sites
are currently promoting the upcoming episode "Gilmore
Girls" featuring the guest appearance of legendary singer/songwriter
Carole King on May 7. In addition to the programming notes,
the sites provide cast bios and photos, consumer polls, news
and trivia, previous episode summaries and interviews with
cast members. Fox affiliate Web sites include similar promotion
of Fox shows with a feature of fantastic finales planned to
wrap-up the spring sweeps period.
All network promotional content is produced
centrally by a team of Tribune Interactive producers and automatically
provided to the sites without the need for local content production
- saving production time for local television production staffs.
The platform allows individual sites to add or subtract content
and to tailor the site to the needs and interests of the local
market.
Viewers have more opportunities to interact
online
The new system provides viewers more opportunities to interact
with the television stations online through graffiti boards
and consumer polls. As the networks complete the spring sweeps
period, many of the sites are hosting consumer polls asking
viewers to vote on the outcome of the several season finales.
WPIX-TV (WB11), New York, developed a special
feature, "Tell Us @10," which is a daily opinion
poll featured on the station's morning news broadcast. The
poll is posted on wb11.com and results read on the 10 p.m.
broadcast, then posted on the site. In addition, newsday.com
posts the daily poll on its New York City section every afternoon.
Content sharing with Tribune newspapers
One of the key benefits of the unified platform is that it
allows Tribune Interactive's network of Web sites to easily
share news and information from site to site. The system automatically
populates each broadcast site with top headlines and news
stories from local Tribune newspaper Web sites. Updates to
stories or headlines are refreshed throughout the day, providing
viewers up-to-the minute access to breaking news stories and
news updates. For example, wb11.com
receives headlines and news stories from newsday.com,
whereas wgntv.com receives top stories from chicagotribune.com.
"This system furthers Tribune's ability
to achieve a national reach with a local touch," said
Rick Felty, Tribune Broadcasting creative services director.
"By using this platform, our broadcast group benefits
from both the efficiencies of a common national production
platform and the flexibility to extend our local brands online."
The dynamic content engine of the platform
is a standards-based application that utilizes BEA's Java
application server and XML to better assist online producers
and editors with the creation and distribution of rich-media
elements. Other Tribune Interactive sites that run on the
system include latimes.com,
chicagotribune.com, newsday.com, sunspot.net
(The Baltimore Sun), sun-sentinel.com
(South Florida Sun-Sentinel), orlandosentinel.com,
ctnow.com
(The Hartford Courant), mcall.com
(The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.), dailypress.com
(Daily Press, Newport News, Va.), stamfordadvocate.com
and greenwichtime.com.
In addition, BlackVoices.com, a leading online community site
for African-Americans and subsidiary of Tribune Interactive,
has used the platform since June 2001.
"In less than five months, our technology
team and broadcast team worked with local market producers
to convert each site - a well-executed and extraordinary effort,"
said Mike Plonski, chief technology officer for Tribune Interactive.
"This unified platform provides us with a more efficient
approach for managing Web content and allows us to take better
advantage of Tribune's multimedia assets."
For a complete list of Tribune Interactive's
network of news and information sites, visit the Web guide
at: www.tribune.com/about/webguide/index.html#interactive
Tribune Interactive operates leading interactive
news and information Web sites in major markets across the
United States, including 18 of the top 30.
:: :: ::
TRIBUNE (NYSE:
TRB) is one of the country's premier media companies,
operating businesses in broadcasting, publishing and on the
Internet. It reaches more than 80 percent of U.S. households,
and is the only media company with television stations, newspapers
and Web sites in the nation's top three markets. Tribune media
span 23 major-market television stations, including national
superstation WGN-TV; 12 market-leading daily newspapers, including
the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Newsday; and news
and information Web sites in 18 of the nation's top 30 markets. |
