GolTV Enlists Coaches To Pitch Distributors
Miami — Offering cleats and other bounty for their teams, GolTV is wooing soccer coaches nationwide to petition local cable operators to carry the channel.
GolTV launched a four-month campaign with the 18,000-member National Soccer Coaches Association of America last week in which coaches, ranging from the high-school to the professional ranks, will be encouraged to get their players to sign a petition on GolTV's Web site. The petitions will be used to pitch cable operators to carry the channel.
The three coaches that generate the most referrals on the Web site will win prizes. The grand prize includes a $2,500 team sponsorship and GolTV uniforms and cleats for the coach's entire team, provided by Joma.
The second-prize winner nets uniforms and cleats for his team, and a $1,000 team sponsorship, while the third prize is a $500 sponsorship, along with the Joma uniforms and cleats.
Nicktoons Gives Makeover To 24-Hour Channel
Los Angeles — Design firm Expolis said it has completed a redesign of MTV Networks Group's Nicktoons Network. The redesign includes five promo packages; six 30-second animated network IDs; 20 navigational elements; several standalone animations; four logo animations; and a 30-second animated cross-channel spot called “Three-Headed Monster.”
Exopolis said the new package uses a modular style, in which “tactile elements such as Post-Its, Polaroids and torn paper are literally taped to the screen, deliberately obscuring the complex animation beneath, to become the only source of communication with the viewer.”
Nicktoons recently began running the promotions. The network is also running a montage of clips from the promotion package every 15 minutes on the Jumbotron screen above the MTV: Music Television headquarters in Manhattan's Times Square.
BellSouth, Yahoo! Team to Market DSL
Atlanta — BellSouth Corp. and Yahoo! Inc. agreed last week to jointly market a BellSouth Yahoo! digital subscriber line high-speed Internet service, beginning in 2006.
Yahoo! will promote the DSL service on its Web portal, and BellSouth will promote the DSL service in its own marketing materials.
The companies said that BellSouth Yahoo! DSL service will feature personalized broadband homepage with access to more than 750,000 content sources from across the Web, a premium e-mail service with 2 Gigabytes of storage, a suite of digital photo features and a premium-level Internet radio service.
Sling Media Expands Retail Push for Slingbox
San Mateo, Calif. — Sling Media Inc. said it expanded distribution of its Slingbox portable media system to 14 additional retailers, following its July rollout in Best Buy and CompUSA stores.
The company's $249 Slingbox allows cable and DBS subscribers to store content on personal computers, and access programming anywhere in the world with access to a high-speed Internet connection.
Sling Media said the product is now available through Amazon.com, Newegg.com, Target.com, Walmart.com, as well as Circuit City, Micro Center and RadioShack. Additional retailers include ebuyer.com, eCost.com, Datavision, J&R and PC Connection, along with Sling Media's online store at www.slingmedia.com.
