CBS Buys EcoMedia

CBS has revealed the eye color of its inconic logo: Green.

The company has set its sights on boosting its environmental profile, and attracting some more of those green ad
dollars, with the purchase of EcoMedia. The company helps put together public/private partnerships for environmental projects, including for CBS stations, since 2008. CBS will now be incorporating those efforts into all its units, including outdoor and publishing.

CBS and EcoMedia teamed up on the CBS-EcoZone Green Schools Initiative in San Francisco, Miami and Chicago.

CBS made the announcement Thursday (May 13), but the Web site url had already been changed to http://www.ecomediacbs.com/ and branded "a CBS company."

EcoMedia founder Paul Polizzotto will remain atop the company as president. "CBS can offer clients to fund energy
efficiency initiatives as part of their normal advertising buys, including retrofits and solar installations on public buildings and schools, tree plantings and watershed clean-up projects," said Polizzotto in a release on the deal.

“EcoMedia’s groundbreaking program will add a unique and desirable element to the sales packages we can bring to
our CBS Television Stations Group clients," said Station Group President Peter Dunn. "By including a green offering as part of the overall ad buy, advertisers will be able to address their sustainability objectives and green initiatives, and ultimately engage on a more meaningful level with their consumers."

Polizzotto
says that he is bringing over seven key staffers from as many as 20
that worked for the company. "I had to make some tough decisions," he
says.

Those not
making the move are primarily on the sales side now that the company
has the sales resources to draw on. "Now I have the opportunity to work
with the sales staff of all the CBS platforms," he said. Making the
move were the sustainability and "creative content folks."

He says the
company does not currently have any station clients outside CBS, and
expects going forward that its green partnerships will be exclusively
for CBS units. "That is what we have planned."

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.