AOL PLANNING NETSCAPE.CA
By Adnews Staff
AOL Time Warner will launch a Canadian version of its Netscape.com portal according to a report in The Toronto Star. AOL Canada CEO Steven McArthur said in the report the site, <http://www.netscape.ca>, will go live in August as a sister portal to AOL Canada's members-only site. The new site will carry the local content and services already produced for AOL.ca, the report said, making those services available for the first time outside of AOL's "walled garden" to anyone who has access to the Internet. According to McArthur, AOL has been missing out on local advertising opportunities by not having a publicly accessible Web portal with Canadian content, such as that found on Yahoo.ca, MSN.ca and Excite.ca. "We wanted to make sure that we are getting our fair share of that advertising market," he said.