Water firm uses digital signage to inform staff
UK utility firm Wessex Water has launched an in-house TV channel for its 2500 employees.
Called Source TV, the channel is intended to give workers at the water company in southwestern England a better understanding of the business as a whole, complementing other employee-communications channels such as newsletters and an Intranet. Many are familiar with their own field of work but know little about other activities within the organisation, 
University sells on-campus screen ads to local firms
Villanova University in Pennsylvania is selling advertising airtime on part of its LCD network to local businesses that accept a university-issued debit card – an unusual foray into commercial digital signage by a higher-education institution.
The 15 screens around the campus show university information and news, according to Michael Hoffberg, a technology specialist at Villanova who is leading its digital-signage project – and the one adjacent to the office
1-2-1 View adds gender recognition
Singaporean digital-signage systems provider 1-2-1 View has added a gender-distinction feature to its viewer-validation software, meaning that its media players can now switch automatically to male- or female-appropriate content depending on who’s watching.
The company, which provides turnkey Linux-based systems, developed the functionality in-house rather than buying in technology from a firm such as Israel’s TruMedia, marketing communications manager Christopher Koh told SCREENS.tv.
And 1-2-1 View is claiming
California could allow ads on Amber Alert screens
The state of California could start selling advertising slots at roadside digital billboard sites originally intended to publicise missing children and provide drivers with useful information.
According to local reports, 674 screens by freeways currently operated by the California Department of Transportation and used to show Amber Alerts could also carry ads to raise money for the state's hard-up highways authority.
The plan, which is being considered
SeeSaw grows roster of sports networks
U.S. advertising aggregator SeeSaw Networks has added inventory from four digital out-of-home sports specialists to its portfolio, increasing its sports-enthusiast impressions from about 9m to 12m each week.
ONTrack has screens (pictured) at more than 1100 racetracks, casino sports-book areas and other betting locations, while OnSite is present in some 185 sports bars. The Bar Network puts 50-inch plasma screens in upmarket Manhattan bars, while the fourth media owner
Neo takes first step into Scandinavia
Activity continues apace in the Nordic digital-signage market, with Neo Group today saying it has acquired a majority stake in Sweden’s Q-Vision while Norway’s CatchTheEye signs a deal to install a network in the country’s Deli De Luca C-stores.
Swiss-based Neo, which just last month took effective control of Britain’s Avanti Screenmedia, has bought Q-Vision from its Norwegian owner Network Mediagroup.
Q-Vision runs screens in more than 200
Wal-Mart TV urges U.S. voters to register
Wal-Mart has launched a voter-registration campaign, funded by the federal government, on its in-store TV network in the U.S.
According to the giant supermarket chain, which has a weekly footfall of 136m people at its stores across the country, the government is using digital signage to get the voter-registration message across to female store visitors. “Wal-Mart women” are “seen as key swing voters on Election Day”, it said.
Indian multiplexes integrate screens with ticketing
Indian cinema chain Adlabs is installing a digital-signage network from SureWaves, in the supplier’s first foray into the movie market.
Adlabs, a part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group conglomerate, has also deployed the SureWaves technology at its Adlabs Digital Cinema facility, where it powers an internal-communication network for employees and visitors.
The SureWaves system is managing the delivery of content to more than 150 LCD screens
Nielsen mixes estimates with hard numbers
The Nielsen Company this week launched in the U.S. its long-expected metrics service for digital out-of-home media, combining verifiable numbers, traffic estimates and demographic data to produce a picture of a network’s audience.
Among the first networks paying for coverage by the Nielsen On Location Media service will be IdeaCast’s Health Club TV (pictured) and Airline TV; Gas Station TV; The Hotel Networks; Arena Media Network; and Buzztime.
Stratacache in talks with takeover targets
Digital-signage technology supplier Stratacache believes its new $25m acquisition fund could be a lifeline for tech firms hit by the credit crunch and over-optimistic business plans.
“Tightening advertising budgets worldwide are putting increased pressure on many early-stage companies” in the sector, said founder and CEO Chris Riegel (pictured). “Many venture-backed or privately-held companies with considerable potential were expecting unrealistic growth in the short term and are now running into
Focus may spin off Internet operation
The Internet-advertising subsidiary of China's Focus Media Holding has taken the first steps towards an initial public offering in the U.S. – a move that would make Focus itself effectively a pure-play out-of-home firm once again.
Allyes Online Media Holding has submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission a draft registration statement for an IPO of American depositary shares, which “is expected to commence as market conditions permit”. The
Sales house takes control of Moscow metro network
The 5000-screen underground and overground digital-signage network on Moscow’s metro has a new owner this week.
Olympus, which previously sold advertising on the system and has now taken it over from previous owner Interfax, plans to more closely co-ordinate content with ads.
The company, which changed its management in July of this year, says it also hopes to improve the revenues from screens at its less-used sites.
Audi begins “UK’s biggest-ever digital OOH campaign”
Audi is giving about 15 percent of its budget for a new UK campaign to digital out-of-home, in what its agencies say is the country’s biggest-ever advertising commitment to the medium.
Highlighting the road-grip technology in Audi’s Quattro car (pictured), the campaign will run on digital outdoor media including large displays in city centres, screens at major railway stations, and CBS Outdoor’s London Underground formats.
Showing human hands
ClubCom deal will transform Zoom, add 60m viewers
ClubCom, the U.S.-based operator of branded digital-signage networks in gyms and bowling alleys, today confirmed earlier speculation that it has been acquired by Canada’s Zoom Media & Marketing.
The deal will transform Zoom from a predominantly non-digital out-of-home advertising company into one which uses digital signage for approximately a third of its sites – a significantly higher proportion than enjoyed by most firms from a conventional OOH background –
Zoom expected to buy ClubCom, gain 25,000 screens
Canada’s Zoom Media is poised to become a major player in providing digital signage for lifestyle venues, with an announcement expected today that it is acquiring U.S. firm ClubCom.
Montreal-based Zoom, which currently operates only about 1250 screens (like the washroom LCD pictured) alongside more than 50,000 conventional poster sites, will at a stroke gain Pittsburgh-based ClubCom’s huge estate of 25,000 screens in fitness clubs.
The deal is
