Times Mirror to Go On-Line With Prodigy : Computers: News and other information from The Times, Newsday and N.Y. Newsday will be available to subscribers.
In one of the largest forays yet by a newspaper company into on-line services, Times Mirror Co. said Wednesday that it will make information from the Los Angeles Times, Newsday and New York Newsday available over the Prodigy computer network starting next year.
Using a home computer equipped with a modem, a subscriber paying a flat fee will gain access to news and other material from the newspapers. Prodigy subscribers will pay an additional fee to access local Times Mirror services.
“Increasingly, the information that people need professionally and in their daily lives is being acquired electronically,” said Robert F. Erburu, chairman and chief executive officer of Times Mirror. “We are committed to making our wide array of information resources available in digital form.”
Of the alliance, Prodigy President Ross Glatzer said: “Together, we are going to create a truly new medium and make the concept of electronic neighborhoods around the country a reality.”
Times Mirror’s letter of intent also encompasses its other newspapers--The Hartford Courant, Baltimore Sun, (Allentown) Morning Call, (Stamford, Ct.) Advocate and Greenwich (Ct.) Time. The alliance may eventually extend to Times Mirror magazines and other properties, the companies said. Times Mirror also publishes books and owns cable television systems.
Times Mirror said the electronic format will allow for repackaging and enhancing news and information that appear in its newspapers to make the material more customized and useful to readers.
A story on floods in the Midwest, for example, could be linked to previous stories on weather patterns or the history of natural disasters. Movie reviews could refer readers to on-line bulletin boards where critics might participate in discussions. Subscribers could access a vast database of restaurant reviews and travel articles.
“It represents a significant step in looking at information services and how a paper like the Los Angeles Times can give readers more access to the information they need,” said Times Editor Shelby Coffey III. “We’re excited about it.”
Other newspapers have joined forces with on-line services. The San Jose Mercury News, for example, is available on America Online. But the pact between Times Mirror and Prodigy Services Co.--which is based in White Plains, N.Y., and owned by IBM and Sears--involves bigger newspapers, bigger markets and more circulation than the others.
The agreement will also allow Times Mirror newspapers to join Prodigy’s electronic advertising network, enabling consumers to make purchases interactively. Times Mirror said its new alliance is similar to one recently reached between Prodigy and Cox Newspapers. Prodigy has said it hopes other newspapers will join as well.
Terms of the Times Mirror agreement with Prodigy were not disclosed. Times Mirror shares closed at $30.625, unchanged in New York Stock Exchange trading.
