Cox Newspapers Teams with Prodigy p.

By: Russell Shaw

Will launch an on-line news service to be available by the end of this year to home-computer users in Atlanta and Palm Beach
COX NEWSPAPERS IS teaming up with Prodigy Services Co. to launch an on-line news service that should be available by the end of this year to home-computer users in the circulation areas of the Cox-owned Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Palm Beach (Fla.) Post.
Cox is positioning this service as a step beyond other newspaper-affiliated on-line services currently in existence ? most of which offer a full-text version of that day's paper along with highlights from the Associated Press and a handful of dispatches from specialized news services.
Instead, this as-yet-unnamed service will supplement the current offerings with market-customized and greatly expanded menus of the day's world, national and local news, including numerous unprinted listings and stories.
"This new electronic medium means we can get back in the business of reporting really local information like police reports, fire calls, civic club meetings, house sales, Little League scores and the like. We had to give up most of that years ago because of the cost of newsprint," said Journal-Constitution publisher Dennis Berry.
"We can print only about 10% of the information we have available on an average day," added Cox Newspapers president David Easterly. "The cost of newsprint is the limiting factor. Computer storage is relatively cheap and will enable us to greatly expand the information we can provide."
For the past two years, the Atlanta newspapers have operated the Access Atlanta service, a limited-menu operation that currently has slightly fewer than 1,000 subscribers. Via on-line sales prompts and perhaps via direct mail, these subscribers will be encouraged to switch to the Atlanta-tailored version of Prodigy when it is launched. At that time, Access Atlanta will be discontinued.
"Our feeling is that Access Atlanta is a classic skunk-works venture. We've made no claims that it was ever going to be like a Prodigy, nor did we even hint at it," said Jay Smith, executive vice president of Cox Newspapers.
"We put our toe in the water to experiment and see what it [operating an on-line news service] felt like. We didn't have any great expectations but we felt it was important for us to get in and try something."
"All along we've been thinking about how we wanted to enhance our on-line service and what direction we wanted to go. Then came the notion of tying in with a service like Prodigy," added David Scott, Journal-Constitution publisher of electronic information services.
Compared with Access Atlanta's small subscriber count, the Atlanta market currently has more than 23,000 Prodigy subscribers. This number is expected to increase significantly when the new service is under way. Nationally, Prodigy has about a million subscribers.
Revenue stream for the new service will come from a combination of subscriber fees and targeted on-line advertising, said Cox and Prodigy officials. How the revenue will be divided was not disclosed.
Scott said several logistical and technical issues will be worked out with Prodigy in the next several weeks. He added that in the future, the service presumably could be upgraded to carry ZIP code-targeted advertising and, within a few years, photographs.
"Our joining with Prodigy will give us an ample opportunity to help us see some of these things to fruition," Scott said.
The Post, which, unlike the Journal-Constitution, does not currently operate an on-line videotext service, will enter the market about the same time. The next Cox newspaper to enter the on-line world probably will be the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman, which will come on board in 1994.
Cox Cable, another division of Cox Enterprises, is considering some type of Prodigy partnership for its service areas, which include San Diego, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Neb., and the Hampton Roads area of Virginia.
Meanwhile, Prodigy officials said they are looking for more newspaper partners.
"We intend to become the standard electronic link between the readers and publishers of all major newspapers nationwide. We're ready to talk to all publishers and we're prepared to move quickly," said Prodigy president Ross Glatzer.