Target Launches Channel Red In-Store TV

According to a report in Narrowcasting News, a private-subscription service from Bill Collins, Target Corporation has entered into the media business this past holiday season when it became the first Top Ten retailer in the USA to complete a nationwide rollout of a company-owned, multi-channel in-store private TV network.
The network, called Channel Red, is currently comprised of three (and possibly more) distinct networks in Targets electronics/music/ movies department. Channel Red is deployed coast-to-coast across the USA at all 1400-plus Target Stores. The private TV network is not currently visible in any other departments at Target beyond the electronics/music/movies department.
According to Target merchandising manager Steve Eastman, who was cited in early 2005 in the Twice on-line consumer-electronics newsletter, Target converted its former one-channel MTV-style Target Video Network to Channel Red by converting from analog signals to a digital media network that will provide controllable and metered high-definition content.
One Channel Red channel serves Targets music/movies zone, where it narrowcasts samples of movies on DVD and music on compact disk (CD)which shoppers can buy at Target. A second Channel Red network is stationed in the video-game area of the electronics department where it lures young people into buying the newest video games.
Shoppers can spot the third Channel Red network on the bank of televisions offered for sale in Targets electronics department.
Content on this Channel Red network some of which appears to be narrowcast in high-definitionis an attractive combination of Target advertisements from network/cable TV, third-party advertising from brands sold in the electronics department, and image advertising that highlights Targets involvement in the community.
The news on Target is part of a larger document produced by retail consultant Laura Davis Taylor and Bill Collins that reports on the current status of in-store TV networks in North American retail at the beginning of 2006. This 8,000-word report is available from the In-Store Marketing Institute. For more information, contact: Bill Collins, 513 271-4425; NarrowcastNews@cinci.rr.com

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