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Technology Stocks : America On-Line (AOL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: CookiePuss who wrote (32769)	10/18/1999 4:40:00 PM
From: puborectalis	Respond to of 41369

AOL expands guide Digital City to add 200 U.S. cities to local guides in 2000 October 18, 1999: 4:34 p.m. ET VIENNA, Va. (Reuters) - America Online Inc. (AOL) said Monday it will expand its online listings service to more than 200 U.S. cities by next spring from 60 metropolitan markets currently. The expansion would thrust the Digital City service well ahead of rival service Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch Inc. (TMCS) Both offer a mix of tourist guides, local entertainment listings, restaurant reviews, ticket ordering, news and weather and local dating services. America Online said new markets will be determined by population size and ranking as a travel destination. The expansion will give AOL the largest national "footprint" in terms of markets served, the company said. A spokeswoman declined to specify new target markets. Digital City does not currently operate overseas. "Local (listings are) one of the fastest-growing uses of the Internet," said Ted Leonsis, president of AOL Interactive Properties, which oversees Digital City. "Our expansion into 200 markets nationwide will bring Digital City's ... local content and services to more people than ever before -- helping them save time and get the most out of the communities they live in, visit and are passionate about," he said. According to Internet market research firm Media Metrix, there were more than six million monthly visitors to about 60 Digital City sites versus 4.2 million visitors to CitySearch and 4.7 million visitors to Sidewalk sites. In July, Ticketmaster agreed to buy Sidewalk.com, another competitor, from Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) for $280 million, in a move that would push the CitySearch service into 77 markets from 60 cities. In return for selling its Sidewalk.com network to CitySearch, Microsoft took a 9 percent stake in rapidly growing Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch, which could rise to 13 percent if all warrants are exercised. Microsoft kept Sidewalk's Yellow Pages business listings and consumer buying guides. Sidewalk was launched in 1996 amid predictions that Microsoft would prove stiff competition for local newspapers and others as it rolled out the service in cities nationwide and overseas, but the service proved slow to take off. Amid a difficult day for Internet stocks, shares of America Online fell back 2-3/16 to 107-1/16 Monday on the New York Stock Exchange. Ticketmaster stock was down 2-5/16 to 20-3/16 on Nasdaq.