Turner Tees Off Cnn, Tnt Ad Campaigns

Cable World, June 2, 2003

Byline: K. C. Neel

Turner Broadcasting System is launching local advertising sales campaigns promoting its new weekend programming lineup on CNN as well as the slate of golf tournaments to be shown this summer on TNT.

Affiliates in the top 25 markets that participate in the CNN promo will be eligible to receive a weekend getaway to the Broadmoor resort in Colorado Springs, Colo. Selected affiliates that participate in TNT's golf promo will receive a trip for two to the 2003 PGA championship in Rochester, N.Y.

Jerry Ware, Turner's VP, local ad sales, hopes local ad sales affiliates will sell through the packages to their clients to generate additional revenue. But the packages could be used as sales incentives or as a way of saying thanks to heavy-hitting ad clients.

The promotional spots hype Turner's programming and provide local ad sales staffs with the opportunity to sell client tag-ons.

Turner offers between 20 and 25 local ad sales promotions a year, Ware says, with around five running concurrently.