CNN.com to Expand Local News Coverage.

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 1, 1999--

Newspaper Affiliate Program Created with Universal New Media;

Broadcast Affiliates to Contribute Local Content

CNN.com will expand its local online news coverage at CNN.com/Local with content from a newly created North American newspaper affiliate program and with additional local content from its broadcast affiliates.

The new newspaper affiliate program, the CNN Online Newspaper Affiliate Program, results from a partnership agreement between CNN Interactive and Universal New Media (UNM). UNM, the pre-eminent online delivery service and syndicator of content to newspaper Web sites, will operate the newspaper affiliate program.

The expanded site will debut by the end of this year.

"The introduction of content from our newspaper and broadcast affiliates will enrich the local news coverage on CNN.com," said Scott Woelfel, CNN senior vice president, general manager and editor in chief, CNN Interactive. "CNN.com users will now discover more about what is making news at a local level across North America with the added perspective of newspapers and television stations that cover these markets on a daily basis. In turn, participants in the new CNN Online Newspaper Affiliate Program and in CNN's Local Link for broadcast affiliates will benefit from being promoted on the CNN Web sites, which attract more than 556 million page impressions a month."

CNN.com/Local will include a main page and six regional subsections that feature news headlines from newspaper and broadcast affiliates. These headlines will link to full news story pages on CNN.com with credit given to the participating affiliate.

As part of the CNN Online Newspaper Affiliate Program, newspaper affiliates can, on story pages that they have contributed, feature five links to their Web site for additional stories or sections along with links to the newspaper's online classified advertisements. UNM will deliver branded CNN video and audio news reports and breaking news video reports to participating newspaper Web sites for inclusion on their sites. This content, which will be streamed using both Microsoft's Windows Media and RealNetwork's technologies, will be suitable for narrowband and broadband users.

Derek Nolen, UNM's project manager for the CNN Online Newspaper Affiliate Program, said "Integrating CNN's audio and video reports directly into a local newspaper's Web site will greatly enhance its multimedia coverage. By offering a range of technologies and bandwidth options, we will make the newspaper site ideal for those users looking for high-end streaming media news reports. Most importantly, having access to video and audio national and international news reports from CNN, the world's news leader, allows the newspaper Web site to encourage users to stay on its site longer."

CNN.com's local news sections will add daily news reports from North American CNN Newsource broadcast affiliates participating in the CNN Interactive Local Link program. CNN.com/Local will feature multiple links to Local Link affiliates' home pages. Story pages contributed from broadcast affiliates to CNN.com/Local will include the affiliate's logo and up to five additional links to various sections of the affiliate's site. In addition, CNN.com will offer Local Link affiliates CNN video reports to stream from their Web sites.

Susan Grant, president, CNN Newsource Sales, said, "Just as CNN Newsource provides local broadcasters with resources to enhance their newscasts, the CNN Interactive Local Link program offers Newsource affiliates tools to help drive traffic to their Web sites. Through the expanded CNN.com local section, these affiliates will benefit from traffic-driving listings and brand placement throughout the section, as well as access to fresh CNN news content to stream from their sites."

Universal New Media is the interactive division of Andrews McMeel Universal (AMU). AMU includes Universal New Media, Universal Press Syndicate (UPS) and Andrews McMeel Publishing (AMP). Universal New Media is the developer of the UClick(R) feature delivery system for interactive newspapers, which is utilized by more than 250 newspaper Web sites. In addition, Universal New Media markets dozens of interactive features such as the Universal Crossword and Universal Word Search to Web publishers worldwide.

CNN Newsource Sales, Inc. is a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. dedicated solely to the sales and marketing of CNN Newsource and its services, including CNN Live Breaking Coverage, CNN Newsource Live, CNN Newsbeam, CNN Newsource on Demand, CNN Interactive Local Link, CNN Guestsource, CNN ImageSource, Noticiero CNN Internacional, CNN/U.S. and CNN Headline News Excerpting, CNN Headline News Half-Hour Programs, as well as A.D.A.M. 2.0, 100 Amazing Sports Minutes , Mrs. Fixit, Parenting and Daily News from Entertainment Weekly.

CNN Interactive is responsible for the award-winning news site CNN.com, as well as seven other Web sites and the distribution of CNN News content via other distribution platforms such as PageNet pagers, PointCast and iMagic's PowerPhones. CNN Interactive also produces CNN Mobile, the most comprehensive and advanced 24-hour global and pan-regional news and information service for GSM mobile phones, which was launched in February 1999, and will be available to more than 30 million customers worldwide by the end of the year.

The CNN Web sites generate more traffic and attract more unduplicated Internet users than any other company's general news and information Web sites. The CNN Web sites average more than 556 million page impressions a month and have served more than five billion page impressions during the first nine months of 1999.