TBD.com launched this week in DC, and today Patch debuted its first Virginia site, RestonPatch, with three more on the way. Patch also has two new sites in Maryland, and it’s preparing to launch in Georgetown in DC (which would be, by the way, the first neighborhood-level Patch site I’ve seen).
“We have talked with each other about exploring possibilities for partnership or collaboration, though we are both focused on launching, so at this point it’s just an agreement to talk,” says TBD.com’s Steve Buttry in an interview with Robert Niles in OJR. “We are not naïve enough to think that there is not competitive aspect to Patch’s presence in the marketplace (or Gannett’s new DC effort). But I (and we) don’t think of media innovation as a zero-sum game.”
For now, TBD.com will link to Patch sites as part of its community network of blogs.