US cable offers election channel
August 31, 2008
Elections '08 On Demand, lets people watch videos whenever they want, much the way they can on YouTube or the Web sites of television networks. Depending on where they live, people can tune into the channel to see an infomercial for Barack Obama, coverage of the Democratic National Convention, or historical clips like Lyndon B. Johnson's "Daisy" ad.
So far the nascent channel offers only about eight hours of programming. But the participating cable companies, many of which joined a consortium this year called Canoe Ventures, say this effort shows that they can work together well. Canoe Ventures is trying to make cable television a more attractive place for advertisers; Elections '08 is the first product it has worked on.
The channel is available in 32 million households, primarily the ones served by the six partners of Canoe Ventures: Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Cablevision Systems, Charter Communications, Cox Communications and Bright House Networks.