NEW YORK -- DotConnect Media combines TownNews.com and ZWire to create a multimedia footprint and connect the dots between national and local, traditional and online

A new national advertising network has been launched with the capacity to provide direct-wired access to more than 1, 550 newspaper online sites.

DotConnect Media, an expansion of the former PowerOne Media advertising network by Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (NYSE:LEE), uses a network of 1, 100 daily and weekly newspapers hosted by its subsidiary TownNews, combined with 450 newspapers formerly hosted by ZWire. TownNews acquired ZWire from PowerOne Media in March.

"This expanded network fills what has been, until now, a significant void, " said Gregory P. Schermer, Lee Enterprises vice president for interactive media. "Dot Connect Media is the largest network of its kind in the country and, for the first...