• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, August 2, 2006

Hearst Corporation plans to expand syndication of local online TV listings to all of its newspaper Web sites through a deal with Internet startup MeeVee Inc.

MeeVee already supplies private-label versions of its online TV guide to the Web sites of the San Francisco Chronicle and the Houston Chronicle. The agreement would potentially extend the MeeVee service to the sites of Hearst's 10 other newspapers, including the San Antonio Express-News and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

"We're completely sold on the value to the user," said Michele Slack, director of digital media at Hearst. "What we're looking to get more information on is how robust the revenue stream is." She offered no timetable on when the other newspaper sites might adopt MeeVee's TV listings. MeeVee typically charges online publishers for upfront development costs and a monthly syndication fee in exchange for sharing advertising revenue on its service.

In addition to providing local TV listings, MeeVee allows users to search for programs by keyword, and to create personalized viewing guides. Besides Hearst, the company also provides online TV guides to papers including USA Today, the Seattle Times and the Denver Post. MeeVee competitors include Zap2It and TitanTV.