Newsletter #3
Cable Companies want in on Advertising Dollars
By Augusta Wray
America’s six major cable networks are banding together to begin an initiative that would allow advertisers to buy customized and interactive ads across their systems. They have temporarily named it “Project Canoe.” The masterminds of this effort are Stephen Burke, the president of Comcast, and Landel C. Hobbs, chief operating officer of Time Warner Cable. This idea of customized advertising is something the cable industry has promised for quite some time, but the internet really took the idea and ran. The idea is to build a national service that can sell focused ads across all six cable systems. The projected added revenue from this targeted system would be about $15 Million, up from the $5 Million current advertising profit. They hope to gain a foothold in the advertising business; much like Google has done in recent times.
Sources
Arango, Tim. “Cable firms join forces to attract focused ads.” The New York Times. March 10, 2008. Late Edition, Page C1.
Smith, David Lee. “Cable Strikes Up an Advertising Band.” The Motley Fool. March 14, 2008. Accessed March 16, 2008.