America Online Inc.
Tuesday named CBS News as the exclusive broadcast news provider on AOL and
CompuServe, as well as
AOL.com.
Under the terms of the agreement, CBS
News will be guaranteed a major and ongoing presence throughout AOL,
CompuServe and AOL.COM. CBS will also provide on-air promotion of AOL
within its television news broadcasts throughout the day and will work
with AOL to develop live chat events.
Financial specifics were not disclosed, but CBS and AOL will share
advertising revenue generated through the deal.
“Over the next 12 months, AOL members will view half a billion pages with
the CBS News logo framing our editorial content,” said Mel Karmazin,
president and CEO, CBS Corp. “That’s a tremendous number of impressions, in
a medium that augments our more traditional television and radio audience.”
“Many of our members use the online medium as their primary source of news,
but they are also very brand-savvy and convenience-oriented,” said Barry
Schuler, president of AOL Interactive Services. “By bringing one of the
most recognizable broadcast news organizations in the world to the AOL
community, we’re both meeting the demand for quality news reporting and
providing yet another reason for consumers to make AOL brands their
one-stop online home.”