Archive for July 8th, 2008

Want to take a live tour of The Weather Channel, the 24-hour cable network that just got a $3.5 billion buyout offer from NBC Universal and two equity firms? Well, you can’t.

It’s not because the channel’s current owners, Landmark Communications, are inhospitable. In fact, they’ve conducted very popular live tours of the outlet’s Atlanta broadcast studios for years. more

Most advertisers interested in running mobile campaigns are caught up in wondering when the channel will break big: amass large audiences for mobile Web or mobile video, build the interconnections to launch nationwide campaigns easily, and rack up a large base of users willing to accept ads and promotions on their phones.

By contrast, Web startup 8coupons.com is content to keep things small and localized—at least for now. The site launched last year as a way to bring the promotional possibilities of Web 2.0 and mobile marketing to the boutiques, bodegas and one-store businesses in Manhattan’s Soho and East Village neighborhoods. more

Olympics broadcaster NBC has just revealed the massive scope of its coverage of the games, both online and on the tube: 3,600 hours of programming, spread among its main broadcast channel, its cable outlets from MSNBC and Oxygen to Bravo and Telemundo, and its Olympics Web site, www.NBCOlympics.com.

The down side for marketers is that NBC has also imposed stringent restrictions on the use others can make of coverage of the Beijing games. That means marketers who want to associate with next month’s Olympic action may have few resources outside the NBC-sanctioned channels.

But Yahoo! is providing some of those alternative Beijing branding opportunities with a new Web site within the Yahoo! Sports portal that will give visitors a host of ways to follow the Olympic Games over the Internet. more