• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, November 30, 2010

Travel Ad Network (TAN) made another step toward becoming an integrated digital media company and away from an ad network. The company will announce Tuesday the purchase of assets from TravelMuse, a travel planning Web site. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Brian Silver, Travel Ad Network CEO, in October said the funds from its recent $15 million Series C round of financing would go toward acquiring travel sites, content and tools and increasing the company's technology infrastructure.

The company said TravelMuse creates a good fit. Launched in 2008, Kevin Fliess founded TravelMuse as an online destination for finding inspiration and planning trips with friends and family. Today, it attracts about 100,000 unique visitors monthly. The company has raised more than $6 million in funding from Azure Capital Partners and California Technology Ventures.

Visitors can save Web pages using the TravelMuse Bookmarker; create trips; and organize, schedule and share travel information; get travel recommendations; and use the "Inspiration Finder" to discover destinations.

The deal comes at a precarious time in the travel industry as Google tries to convince government regulators that consumers would benefit from its $700 million acquisition of ITA Software, which provides travel data to Expedia and others.

Along with Expedia, Kayak.com and others formed a coalition called FairSearch.org to oppose Google's acquisition of ITA, sending letters to members of Congress in hope of stopping the sale.