Washington -- MTV Networks and Viewer's Choice recently
teamed up with area operators to donate $6,000 to a local charity as part of a promotion
tied to the pay-per-view debut of Paramount Pictures' The Rugrats Movie.
Area cable operators donated $1 from each Rugrats
PPV sale to the National Institutes of Children's Health and Human Development,
representatives from both companies said.
The Washington-Baltimore Cable Council -- which includes
Comcast Corp., Media General Cable, Prime Management's Cable TV Arlington and Cable TV
Montgomery and District Cablevision systems serving 694,000 addressable homes -- was
expected to donate a check to the organization this week.
"As a family title, Rugrats offers a terrific
opportunity to reach a demographic group that PPV is eager to capture," Viewer's
Choice regional marketing director Maribel Maldonado said.
"This is a terrific opportunity to give back to the
local community, and we're grateful to all of the companies that participated in this
promotion," she added.
Media General PPV director Ted Hodgins, chairman of the
Washington-Baltimore Cable Council, said the promotion helps the charitable organization
and also helps to establish cable on a local, grassroots level.
"A promotion of this nature will help to derive
enormous goodwill from consumers who will associate a community benefit with the purchase
of PPV, not to mention the benefits that will also be provided to local cable operators,
Paramount, Nickelodeon and various other retail partners," he said.
Viewer's Choice and the operators worked with a local radio
station to run a series of public-service announcements to tout the promotion. And the
National Institutes of Children's Health and Human Development promoted the PPV movie in
their newsletters.
