Robert_Charlton - 3:14 am on Nov 21, 2006 (gmt 0)

"We believe the local segment is largely untapped and provides significant opportunities to expand audience engagement and subsequently grow local advertising," Yahoo Chief Executive Terry Semel said.

I see this as a major development for Yahoo Local. Neither Yahoo nor Google Local has had even a fraction of the content (events, restaurant reviews, local news, etc) of a free local weekly... and the local papers didn't have the web infrastructure to make their content accessible and useful online.

This is the phone book, user reviews, news, and interactive advertising all rolled up into one and potentially cross-referenced, with enough critical mass to build momentum.