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Partner With Us






JOIN THE NETWORK  

The Real Cities Network brings together the best of local sites. Newspapers, television stations and regional online hubs have all joined Real Cities to create a national footprint deep in local content. Affiliation with the Network opens the door to new channels of visibility, advertising opportunities and content distribution through buying power that is otherwise hard to obtain.


BECOME A NATIONAL PARTNER  

As a Real Cities partner, you become an integral part of an environment where creating valuable, strategic partnerships is of the highest priority. We strive to ensure that each of our partnerships is mutually beneficial and mutually enriching.

Because of the diverse nature of our markets, our partnerships reflect many arrangements, from the exchange of content and technology to joint promotional and marketing efforts, which subsequently drive product sales and/or traffic to specific Web sites. Through us, our partners gain access to the very best local Web sites nationwide, and coveted national deals may include our entire network of sites or a select few.

Currently, our national and local partners reflect the diversity of our network. Nationally, our partners include several leading companies. Locally, we've formed valuable relationships with television and radio stations, major sports teams, government and community organizations, and local businesses.

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CURRENT PARTNERS  

AT&T Wireless
AT&T's PocketNet service features news, sports and entertainment stories from Real Cities sites.

Sprint PCS
Sprint PCS customers can access local news and sports information in more than 15 Real Cities markets, including Miami, San Francisco and New York.

Yahoo!
Real Cities sites are the main providers of local news for Yahoo Local channels.

Palm
Real Cities is the exclusive local news provider for the Palm VII, Palm VIIx devices and the Palm Internet Kit.

Blockbuster
This national marketing relationship includes a wide array of online and offline efforts including pre-lease viewing parties, a giveaway promotion for the 2001 NCAA basketball tournament. Several Real Cities sites provide in-store "Top Picks" to Blockbuster customers and promote new releases online.

New Times
A strategic partnership between Knight Ridder Digital and New Times, the nation's largest publisher of alternative weeklies, brings the cutting edge and often avant garde flavor of the alternatives to four of Real Cities' largest markets, including San Francisco, Dallas-Fort Worth, Kansas City and Miami. Look for hard-hitting investigative cover stories and the best of what's happening in those urban centers.


Content from many Real Cities newspapers is available through the products and services of our partners Dialog, Factiva, LexisNexis and NewsBank.
Dialog Factiva NewsBank Lexis Nexis



DISTRIBUTION  

One of the more exciting parts of network affiliation is the new avenue of visibility and content distribution. Most recently, the Real Cities Network has made forays into the wireless arena with several Real Cities sites providing premier news content on the AT&T PocketNet and Sprint PCS phone service. Real Cities' sites also leverage strong content areas around the network to pull in national buys. We are working on a national NFL page that collects stories on opposing teams from around the network. The national footprint of the Real Cities network has also resulted in an alliance with Yahoo! News where local news headlines lead to a few paragraphs of a story and then provide a click-through to the full story that lives on the Affiliate site. Sports headlines can also be fed to Yahoo! for direct click-throughs.


NATIONAL ADVERTISING  

Our cadre of national sales people is focused on selling the network -- be it targeted regions or the whole nation. After the sale is made, a check is sent to you for the percentage of the inventory you served. As part of the national network, you are also able to sell into it.

The components of the Network are designed to tie together various areas of content, advertising and other network initiatives.

ADVERTISING

An advertising tag is placed on the homepage where Real Cities' national advertisers will focus their geo-targeted sales. Occasionally, advertisers want to target by subject as well so there may be more creative sales opportunities as the Network continues to gain footing.

REAL CITIES NETWORK BRANDING

Real Cities Affiliates integrate various components into their home page and other parts of their site to identify them as part of the National Real Cities Network. By carrying a Real Cities Guide, users are encouraged to visit site to site throughout the U.S. while staying within the Real Cities online properties.

OPTIONAL CONTENT CHANNELS

Joining the Real Cities Network opens the door for Affiliates to leverage the resources of Knight Ridder Digital technology and channel development. We recently rolled out a Health channel with sponsored modules along service type -- Lasik eye surgery is very popular. Insurance and local hospitals also find a place in this channel.

Real Cities Highlights