EIGHT MAJOR U.S. NEWSPAPER COMPANIES FORM NATIONAL NETWORK OF ONLINE SERVICES; Joint venture to include Advance Publications, Cox Newspapers, Gannett Co., The Hearst Corporation, Knight-Ridder, The Times Mirror Co., Tribune Company and The Washington Post Co

Business Wire, April 19, 1995

--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 19, 1995--Eight of the nation's largest newspaper companies announced today that they are forming a new company to create a national network of local online newspaper services.

The new company, New Century Network, will be operated as a joint venture by Advance Publications, Inc., Cox Newspapers, Inc., Gannett Co., Inc., The Hearst Corporation, Knight-Ridder, Inc., The Times Mirror Co., Tribune Company and The Washington Post Co.

The objective of the new company will be to support local newspapers in helping them provide local online services to their communities.

"The NCN network of local online communities will be unique in giving customers unprecedented access to the interactive news and information services of newspapers across the U.S.," said Charles T. Brumback, chairman and chief executive officer of Tribune Company, speaking on behalf of the partners.

The new venture will act as a catalyst for a wide number of services, such as helping members share content and develop new content packages. It will also provide to affiliate newspapers technical standards and consulting services to facilitate the development of highly local online newspaper services.

The network will enable local online newspaper services to provide a full offering of local goods and services, including news, features and sports information, ticket services, home shopping and guides to community, entertainment and other events. At the same time, it will allow them to provide the powerful communications tools of a national network, including e-mail, bulletin boards and real-time chat capabilities.

"The creation of NCN signals the evolution of the newspaper industry to a new era of cooperation, enhanced focus and recognition that customers want choices in the way news and information is delivered, including electronically," said John J. Curley, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Gannett Co., Inc.

The founding companies own 185 daily newspapers with a total Sunday circulation of more than 23 million. Six of the eight companies own newspapers that currently offer products on commercial online services, and the other two are developing such services. Each company is expecting to put all but its smallest newspapers online on the network within the next three years.

Times Mirror Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Robert F. Erburu said, "This action underlies the reality that newspapers intend to be serious online players. By developing local online services and linking them through NCN, newspapers will reach a broad national audience. They will also be more attractive partners to technology companies and other online publishers."

"The founding partners firmly believe that a newspaper is the most significant news and information source in its local community," said Donald E. Graham, chairman and chief executive officer of The Washington Post Co. "Online and electronic delivery is the natural extension of the newspaper's mission to provide that content -- edited with context and clarity -- however the customer wants it."

P. Anthony Ridder, president and chief executive officer of Knight-Ridder, said his company's experience in establishing pioneering information services in Mercury Center in San Jose "persuaded us that we need strong newspaper partnerships as we move into the electronic information age. New Century Network fulfills that need, providing a user-friendly, local, online communications community while also linking customers directly to other online communities and marketplaces nationally."

The partners said that the network would be open to all U.S. daily newspapers. "We invite every daily newspaper in the country to participate as an affiliate," said David Easterly, president and chief operating officer of Cox Enterprises. "Our goal is to help all newspapers to strengthen their relationships with customers and retain their brand leadership as information providers."

Hearst President and Chief Executive Officer Frank A. Bennack Jr. said "newspapers have long been the primary providers of reliable, high-quality news and information within our communities, and today's announcement quite logically extends our leadership to help local newspapers provide a full range of interactive information and services."

NCN will help affiliates develop their local online newspaper services, offering common technical standards and authoring tools, and developing billing, tracking and consulting services. The NCN network will be connected to and compatible with the Internet's World Wide Web.

Donald E. Newhouse, president of Advance Publications, Inc., emphasized that common standards among newspapers are essential to developing newspaper online services. "Connectivity and standards are the elements that have been missing. New Century Network provides the solution," he said.

The new company will be governed by a board of directors appointed by the founding firms, and will be managed by a chief executive officer reporting to the board. Peter Winter, vice president/market development of Cox Newspapers, will serve as interim CEO until the search for a permanent CEO is completed.