The Examiner and the Bay Area’s MediaNews papers — such as the Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, Oakland Tribune, etc. — plan to work together to sell advertising, the Denver Business Journal reports.

The “San Francisco Bay Area Buy,” or SFBAB, is an attempt to compete with the Chron. Billionaire Phil Anschutz’s Denver-based Clarity Media, owner of the Examiner, says the combined MNG-Examiner buy will reach more readers than the Chron.

Ironically, Hearst, the Chron’s owner, also owns 30 percent of MNG’s assets outside the Bay Area. A federal judge has barred MNG and Hearst from teaming up in the Bay Area.

“The San Francisco Examiner makes the SFBAB’s geographic coverage complete,” Mark Wurzer, chief marketing officer of Clarity Media Group, said in the Examiner statement.