WCVB-TV Enters Unique Partnership with PrimeNetiX and Boston Herald On Internet Auto Shopping Site
29 July 1997
WCVB-TV Enters Unique Partnership with PrimeNetiX and Boston Herald On Internet Auto Shopping Site
Called Precedent-Setting Alliance
WAKEFIELD, Mass., July 29 -- WCVB-TV, Channel 5, Boston, one
of the country's leading local television stations and a unit of The Hearst
Corp., has joined forces with PrimeNetiX Corp. and the Boston Herald in a
first-of-its-kind, cross-media advertising partnership. The agreement was
announced today by PrimeNetiX, an Internet company that maintains the
cablecars.com auto shopping site on the World Wide Web
(http://www.cablecars.com).
Under the terms of the agreement, WCVB-TV has become a one-fourth equity
partner in PrimeNetiX with the Boston Herald and PrimeNetiX's two Wakefield-
based co-founders, Prime Communications Inc. and Synetics Corp. WCVB-TV will
promote cablecars.com to its viewing audience, and has established a direct
"hot link" between cablecars.com and the station's Web site
(http://www.wcvb.com), offering online classified advertisers exposure to more
than three million monthly visitors to the site.
Paul La Camera, Vice President and General Manager of WCVB-TV, said, "WCVB
has been looking for an exciting Internet business opportunity, and this
partnership and cablecars.com fit that bill."
Cablecars.com contains listings of thousands of used and new vehicles
offered by more than 35 New England auto dealerships as well as hundreds of
cars being offered by individual sellers through the Herald. The site's
powerful search engine enables people to search either an individual dealer's
inventory, the inventories of every dealer, or the cablecars classifieds.
Searches can be conducted by precise make, model, year and/or price, as well
as by ranges of prices or years. Visitors to cablecars.com also can shop for
automotive-related products and services, including tires and insurance.
PrimeNetiX was formed in May 1996 by Prime Communications, New England's
largest advertising agency specializing solely in automotive clients, and
Synetics Corp., a leading systems integration company that provides system
solutions for a wide range of clients in business and government.
The Herald has been a partner in PrimeNetiX since November 1996, when it
began offering online private-party classifieds for $20.00 through its Web
site, bostonherald.com/cablecars. A photo of the car can be included in the
online classified at no additional charge.
Herald Publisher Patrick Purcell said, "We believe that this partnership
will become a model for similar cross-media relationships involving the
Internet, which leverage the strengths each partner brings to the table and
open new audiences to the participants. The Herald has been in the forefront
of utilizing the enormous reach of the Internet, and we see this as the next
step toward a full multimedia integration."
"This venture demonstrates the power of the Internet to bring together
different media in a precedent-setting marketing alliance," said Neal Bocian,
president of both PrimeNetiX and Prime Communications. "Nowhere else has
there been established such a combination of a major market television station
and newspaper, built around a successful regional Internet site."
"It is exciting to be a member of this unique partnership, combining our
technology skills with advertising and media partners to promote automotive
electronic commerce," said Synetics CEO Bahar Uttam, "This partnership will
significantly benefit the automotive consumers in the Greater Boston area."
SOURCE PrimeNetiX Corp.
