OrangeCounty.com Debuts as Community Hub for Entertainment, Things to Do

IRVINE, Calif.- April 16, 2009 - Freedom Interactive, a division of Freedom Communications, has launched OrangeCounty.com, a guide to the latest entertainment and activities that define Orange County’s unique culture.

Through event listings, photo galleries, video, e-mail newsletters, Twitter, Facebook and blog feeds, OrangeCounty.com provides unparalleled access into what’s happening at local nightspots, restaurants, beaches, concerts, movie theaters and shopping venues in one convenient location.

“OrangeCounty.com is a collection of edgy, eye-catching content with a healthy mix of community-generated events,” said Doug Bennett, president of Freedom Interactive. “All OrangeCounty.com pages provide key reference information where OrangeCounty.com users can interact with one another, or go out and experience the things we cover for themselves.”

OrangeCounty.com has a robust events database at the top of its home page to find things to do, either through a keyword or category search. Users may also share their own events by posting directly into the events database.

OrangeCounty.com is aggregating content about local nightspots, beaches, dining, music and shopping through multiple sources and partners. OrangeCounty.com is a media partner with ocregister.com, another Web site within the Freedom Interactive network. Promotional ads and content links to OrangeCounty.com will appear in the Register and ocregister.com as part of the media partnership.

The site particularly fills a void for 18-34-year-olds who want suggestions on cool places to go in Orange County, but had no locally focused and entertainment-specific site to refer to, Bennett said.

The site’s advertiser targets include restaurants, clothing, surfwear, bars, clubs, liquor companies and entertainment venues. Title and section sponsorships are sold onto the site, as well as fixed and run-of-site banner ad positions. Sales forces at Santa Ana-based Orange County Register Communications are overseeing OrangeCounty.com sponsorships and advertising sales.

To usher in the launch, OrangeCounty.com has posted an enter-to-win contest for a chance to experience the “Ultimate D1 Pit Party.” A winner and a group of nine friends win VIP passes to D1 Grand Prix USA Professional Drift racing event, to be held May 2 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

About Freedom Interactive / Freedom Communications
Freedom Interactive of Irvine, Calif. is a division of Freedom Communications, also headquartered in Irvine. Freedom Interactive operates websites from coast to coast, each offering up-to-the-minute breaking news stories, extensive local content, and trusted local news coverage on demand.

Freedom Communications, Inc. is a national privately owned information and entertainment company of print publications, broadcast television stations and interactive businesses. Its portfolio includes 33 daily newspapers (including The Orange County Register), more than 70 weekly newspapers, magazines and other specialty publications, with news, information and entertainment websites to complement its media properties. Freedom’s newspaper publications have a combined circulation of nearly one million subscribers. The broadcast stations – five CBS, two ABC network affiliates and one CW affiliate – reach more than 3 million households across the country.