The Cutting Edge: COMPUTING / TECHNOLOGY / INNOVATION : Times Mirror Acquires Online Service Firm
Moving to broaden its reach in electronic media, Times Mirror Co. said Tuesday that it has acquired Hollywood Online, a Santa Monica-based provider of online entertainment information.
Times Mirror said it plans to combine information from its publications, including the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers, with material on Hollywood Online’s World Wide Web site.
“There are natural synergies between The Times, our other newspapers and HOL, given the sizable franchises we each have in the entertainment information field,” said Richard T. Schlosberg III, executive vice president of Los Angeles-based Times Mirror and publisher of The Times.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
One of the first firms to proselytize electronic marketing to the entertainment industry, Hollywood Online has produced more than 100 movie sites on the major online services and the World Wide Web since its founding in 1993.
Hollywood Online’s own Web site (https://www.hollywood.com) offers movie video and audio clips, photographs, movie production notes, celebrity information, games and discussion forums.
“With the resources of Times Mirror behind us, we’ll have the opportunity to build a much richer place for people to learn what’s going on in the entertainment industry,” said Stuart Halperin, Hollywood Online’s co-founder.
Under the agreement, Hollywood Online will become a unit of Times Mirror and will operate as a separate company.
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