Nationwide alliance of local media outlets plans more digital growth

Local Media Consortium prepares to roll out expanded networks for advertising and content

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Sep 30, 2013, 09:00 ET

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sept. 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- A strategic partnership of leading local media companies – representing more than 700 daily newspapers, dozens of major market television and radio stations, cable outlets and all of their affiliated digital properties – is expanding again to leverage new opportunities for revenue and audience growth.

The Local Media Consortium, founded in 2006 as The Newspaper Consortium, has begun re-signing members to new agreements aimed at increasing their potential share of new revenue and audience-building programs and pursuing new relationships with a variety of technology companies and service providers.

"We see this as the next step in the evolution, growth and perfection of our ability to digitally serve our audiences so we're delighted to be part of the national Local Media Consortium," said John Paton, CEO of Digital First Media, which operates more than 800 media products in 18 states. "Much work and thinking has gone into the next wave of the Consortium by some of the best minds in our industry, and discussions are now under way with some of the top digital companies in the world."

The Local Media Consortium today represents 30 member companies with additional companies expected to join in the coming weeks. Local Media Consortium members attract 1.7 billion monthly page views from 200 million monthly unique users. They offer 8 billion advertising impressions each month for desktop, tablet, mobile web, mobile app and video.

"The collective size, scale and impact of the Consortium is truly breathtaking," said Christian Hendricks, vice president, interactive media for The McClatchy Company and the Consortium's executive committee chairman. "Our new name better reflects our multi-platform products and capabilities. And with the strengthening of our partnership, we're now better prepared to seek opportunities with a variety of technology and service providers that will benefit all of the partners and also the quality of information and advertising services we can provide our local communities."

Since its founding, the Consortium has partnered with Yahoo! on content, advertising and search initiatives.

"Yahoo! has been a wonderful partner and the backbone of our Consortium from the beginning," Hendricks said. "We look forward to a continued close relationship with Yahoo! even as we seek additional opportunities with new partners. In broadening the opportunities for our members, we are focusing on digital advertising sales, systems, search and network opportunities, as well as content enhancements for audience growth."

Hendricks said details of agreements with several providers are in the final stages of negotiations and are expected to be announced soon.

Governance of the Local Media Consortium has been updated, Hendricks said, and members are being asked to re-sign for five-year terms with annual windows to opt out. New membership terms include revised economic provisions based on the level of each company's participation. He said signups are ongoing.

About the Local Media Consortium (http://localmediaconsortium.com)
Local Media Consortium members are: The Bakersfield Californian, Ballantine Communications, BH Media Group, The Buffalo News, Calkins Media, Columbian Publishing Company, Cooke North Carolina Publications, Cox Media Group, The Day Publishing Company, Deseret Digital Media, Digital First Media, The Dispatch Printing Company, GateHouse Media, Halifax Media Group, Hearst Newspapers, Lee Enterprises, The McClatchy Company, Morris Communications, New York Daily News, The Oklahoma Publishing Company, Scripps, The San Diego Union-Tribune, Shaw Family Holdings, Sonoma Media Investments, Tampa Media Group, Tennessee Valley Printing Company, Times-Shamrock Communications, and Trib Total Media.

The media outlets represented by the Local Media Consortium include major market daily newspapers and leading local television stations such as The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Houston Chronicle, The (Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union, The Kansas City Star, The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal, Miami Herald, Omaha World-Herald, The Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Tampa Tribune, WMAR, Channel 2, Baltimore; WXYZ, Channel 7, Detroit; WRTV, Channel 6, Indianapolis; WFTV, Channel 9, Orlando; KNX-TV, Channel 15, Phoenix; and KIRO-TV Channel 7, Seattle.