FoxSports South to launch live-streaming scores on billboards
5:46 p.m. Monday, March 7, 2011
At leastnow you'll have something to look at besides the bumper in front of you.
On Tuesday,Fox Sports South will start incorporating live-streaming data on 10 digitalbillboards across the Atlanta area. The outdoor advertising will have liveAtlanta Hawks game scores, starting with the Lakers game on Tuesday, as well asAtlanta Braves spring training headlines directly from FoxSportsSouth.com. Livescores from Braves games will stream on the boards when Major League Baseball'sregular season begins.
Die-hardfans probably have their teams' schedules on the refrigerator. But Fox istrying to hit casual fans from as many angles as possible.
"Peopleare bombarded with messages in their day-to-day walk through life," saidMichael Brouder, director of marketing and network presentation for Fox SportsSouth. "We're just trying to make it easier for sports fans to catch theirteams."
The networksays it is the first in the Atlanta market and first among Fox's 18 regionalnetworks to use the technology, which will blast scores for about 18-24 secondsper minute on 40-foot billboards. An eleventh billboard is coming near themerge of Ga. 400 and Interstate 85.
"Foxhas tons of sports products here in Atlanta," said Brouder. "But it'salso a lousy traffic town. Our goal here is to have people as they're drivinghome and let them know the game is on."
Fox workedwith billboard companies including CBS, Clear Channel, Lamar Advertising andOlympus Media to design the streaming program. "Each of the vendors thatwe're dealing with have been so cooperative," Brouder said. "They've made it veryeasy."
Digitalbillboards are eye-catching, but they have been controversial. A number ofcities have banned them to try to force drivers to focus on the road.
The OutdoorAdvertising Association of America says high-tech digital billboards do notraise the risk of accidents. The trade group said an engineering analysis ofthree years of accident data in the Cleveland area showed no statisticalrelationship between digital billboards and accidents.
In a 2009study, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officialssaid digital billboards "attract drivers' eyes away from the road forextended, demonstrably unsafe periods of time."