“National advertisers have not embraced local (Web sites) largely because they're fragmented,” senior vice president for sales at Tribune Interactive Dana Hayes told USA Today. “With the new venture, you don't have to call 100 markets and deal with 100 salespeople.”

This move will provide them an edge over Web portals such as Yahoo that offer news from local providers. "Portals don't know local. We know local," Hayes said, according to E&P.

According to the Chicago Tribune, MediaNews and Cox declined to join the network.

"The new venture will both overlap and compete with a similar network set up last year by Yahoo; Hearst participates in both groups," the Tribune reported. "Notably absent from the quadrantOne network will be Gannett's USAToday.com and the flagship New York Times site, since those properties already have nationwide audience reach."

According to an article on the USA Today, “Advertisers can place their messages in specific markets, attach them to subject categories such as sports or business, or connect them to stories about particular subjects. quadrantOne won't sell online ads for USA TODAY and The New York Times. Each already reaches a national audience.”

Hayes did not disclose about quadrantOne's financing – how revenue will be split, or the ownership stakes of the four backers, E&P reported.