Travel Channel Media Launches FlightDeck(TM) -- An Innovative Content-Sharing And Advertising Network

CHEVY CHASE, Md., Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Travel Channel Media (TCM) today announced the launch of FlightDeck(TM), an innovative content-sharing and advertising network that provides small to mid-size online travel publishers and suppliers with the ad sales expertise to create a reliable ad revenue stream. This new online travel network also offers quality, branded content and tools to enhance the customer value and the online experience for the consumer. FlightDeck(TM) can be accessed at: (http://www.travelchannel.com/flightdeck).

In addition, Travel Channel Media (TCM) announced a strategic partnership with Home&Abroad (http://www.homeandabroad.com), to use its innovative Fogglight technology as part of the FlightDeck(TM) offerings. Fogglight OnDemand is an easy-to-use application designed for online publishers that provides the tools needed to build a travel website, or a trip planner for their site in a matter of minutes.

Travel Channel Media (TCM) will utilize the Adify vertical ad network platform to provide the technology and back-office operational support for the network. Adify is owned by Cox Enterprises, Inc., the parent company of Cox Communications, Inc., which wholly owns Travel Channel Media (TCM). Upon launching FlightDeck(TM) in early Q1 of 2009, the network will also leverage Travel Channel Media's existing advertising sales agreement with Discovery Communications. This arrangement creates new opportunities for TCM, working with Discovery Communications' digital ad sales division, to build robust partnerships with advertisers in the travel category, and expands total inventory in the desirable travel vertical.

"The launch of FlightDeck(TM) provides Travel Channel yet another platform to leverage our entertaining and informative content with new business partners and audiences -- all while increasing our digital revenue and those of our partners," said Travel Channel Media president and general manager, Patrick Younge. "Home&Abroad is a recognized leader in the marketplace. Their tools, functionality, and distribution, combined with our vast library of content, offer unlimited potential for building new strategic partners while maximizing opportunities with existing ones."

"We're honored to enter into a partnership with Travel Channel Media's FlightDeck(TM)," says Mark Schroeder, CEO of Home&Abroad. "Home&Abroad's new service, Fogglight onDemand (http://www.fogglight.com), will enable FlightDeck(TM) to provide value-added tools to online publishers and suppliers, including content, activities, and a trip planner, all of which will increase ROI, user engagement, and brand loyalty. On the advertiser side, Fogglight OnDemand will provide advertisers qualitative data views on traveler preferences that will increase their ability to target their advertisements. Travel Channel's brand, in tandem with Home&Abroad tools, creates a win-win solution for all parties -- and is a first in the market place."

FlightDeck(TM) aggregates quality travel content and supplier websites into a contextually targeted network that offers content-sharing between sites through link-backs, distribution and other means, and offers advertisers access to a broad base of long tail users interacting with relevant content that is supported and validated by the Travel Channel brand.

Home&Abroad's Fogglight OnDemand application benefits clients because it can offer its website users a value-added tool as well as increased bookings, and visitors benefit from utilizing Fogglight's feature-rich database of destination information to create a personalized itinerary for the destination of their choice. The trip planner offers quality content for over 120 destinations around the world, color and theme-customization options, and easy uploading capabilities for photos and business logos, enabling any travel-oriented business to create a trip planner that incorporates their branding, their booking engine, and integrates seamlessly into the look and feel of their website.

About Home&Abroad:

Home&Abroad is a travel technology company based in Boulder, Colorado. Their flagship consumer site, http://www.homeandabroad.com, was rated one of the top 25 travel-related websites by Travel & Leisure magazine in 2007 and has been featured by CNN, CTV (Canada's largest private television network), and many other media outlets. Clients include Hawaiian Airlines, Marriott, Starwood, AirTran, Desires Hotels, Worldspan, Crestline Hotels, Gusto.com, FamilyTravel.com, and others.

About Adify:

Adify Corporation is the premier vertical ad network management company and an independent, wholly owned subsidiary of Cox TMI Inc., part of Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises, one of the nation's leading media companies and providers of automotive services.

About Travel Channel Media:

Travel Channel Media is an integrated travel media business, and is wholly owned by Cox Communications, Inc., a leading multi-service broadband communications and entertainment company. Travel Channel Media includes: the Travel Channel television network, available in more than 91 million U.S. cable homes; Travel Channel HD(TM), the network's high-definition simulcast; travelchannel.com, the network's broadband travel hub; Travel Channel's video-on-demand (VOD) and HD VOD offerings; its mobile content platform, Travel Channel GO(TM); World Hum (worldhum.com), a leading online travel blog; and FlightDeck(TM), an innovative content-sharing and advertising network for online publishers and advertisers.