ABC news and Yahoo! form partnership

ABC News and Yahoo! have formed an alliance that will strengthen their news operations, the two companies said in an announcement Monday. "This new venture blends ABC News' global news gathering operation and unrivaled lineup of trusted anchors and reports with Yahoo! News' unmatched audience, depth and breath of content," a statement said. Ross Levinsohn, executive vice president of Americas at Yahoo! called the partnership a "deep collaboration" that "further strengthens Yahoo! As the no. 1 online news source, greatly enhancing our already robust news content." The alliance began with the launch of a three new video series, including "Newsmakers," which was to begin Monday with George Stephanopoulos interviewing President Barack Obama. It was to be streamed live at ABCNews.com and Yahoo.com simultaneously. The two other programs ready for launch are a news show called "Around the World with Christiane Amanpour and "This Could Be Big," a news show hosted by Bill Weir that will feature technology news.