New York - Hoping to broaden the reach of its digital publishing business, AOL (NYSE: TWX) on Monday announced the launch of a new business unit called MediaGlow, which the company said will help it "dramatically expand" its programming efforts.

The new unit joins ad unit Platform-A and social media unit People Networks, becoming the third major pillar in AOL's overhaul from its previous life as an Internet access provider.

"Our vision was to rebuild AOL into three core businesses -- publishing, advertising and social media. With the launch of MediaGlow, we have completed our goal in less than 18 months," said Randy Falco, the chairman and CEO of AOL.

Bill Wilson, AOL's executive vice president of programming, will lead the new unit. Wilson previously led the company's publishing unit, which in recent months has rebuilt its flagship AOL.com portal, and also launched more than a dozen new targeted content sites.

AOL said that it plans to develop more than 30 new sites in 2009.

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