Tribune and Morning News reach ad deal

DALLAS, July 2 (UPI) -- The Dallas Morning News said it had reached a deal for Tribune Co. of Chicago to handle its national news ad sales.

The deal allows Tribune Co. to offer national advertisers a new audience in addition to the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the Baltimore Sun and other newspapers. It also increases the revenue stream and allows the Morning News sales staff to focus on local advertising, Advertising Age reported Thursday.

"This is an important step toward a more-efficient and better-equipped sales force for our company," said Morning News Senior Vice President of Sales Cyndy Carr in a statement.

"Our sales team in Dallas will now be able to remain laser-focused on serving locally based advertisers while assisting Tribune 365 to best serve our national advertisers," Carr said.

Don Meek, president of Tribune 365, the division that handles national ad sales, said the Tribune Co. is discussing similar arrangements with other publishers.

As advertising revenues have dropped at newspapers around the country, "we need to make papers easier to buy and more user-friendly," Meek said.