Old School Retailers

Cable World, Sept 11, 2000 by K.C. Neel

Cablevision hired some retail experts and has been able to sell its cable services and equipment, as well as tickets to events at Madison Square Garden, from the stores throughout the New York City region.

Analysts are finally beginning to see wisdom in what many considered Cablevision chairman Chuck Dolan's madness.

Earlier this year Cox Communications opened its first retail showroom in New Orleans. The 1,200-foot retail operation showcases and sells the MSO's cable, digital cable and high-speed data services, allowing them to interact and buy the products directly.

AT&T Broadband has a retail store that distributes network, programming and AT&T paraphernalia in its Salt Lake City office. The business started out as a way of enticing people into the office. Now it's actually making money -- not much, the company says, but enough to expand it a bit and keep it running.

Of course, AT&T has a huge retail presence selling wireless phone services and equipment in markets around the country. The company recently ended a trial in Salt Lake City, where the AT&T retail stores sold digital TV services. It's evaluating how to proceed.

Operators and programmers alike agree that the one thing a retail presence does is expand brand awareness. It also gives networks the ability to cross-promote product

"Our retail stores are a billboard for the network," Discovery's Harband says.

For instance, during the Discovery Channel's recent Walking with Dinosaurs premiere, Discovery Channel stores contributed to the show's awareness by carrying window banners, fixture signage and sponsoring 12 Dino Product Mall Tours.

"We created dinosaur activities for kids around the country at various malls," Harband says. "We had contests where they could roar like dinosaurs and put together puzzles and models. We also ran continuous loops of the show during the events."

In exchange, Discovery Channel ran several Discovery Store spots during the show's airings. Both the retail division and channel shared in the promotion costs, Harband says.

Syngeries are all fine and good, but in the end, each division has to take care of its knitting.

"We have to focus on the fact that we're a retail store," Harband says. "We've been asked to so some things during very retail times for us -- like during the holiday season -- and we just can't devote resources to that. The holiday season is our most important season, and we have to focus on selling product from our stores. If Discovery Channel had debuted Walking with Dinosaurs in December, we wouldn't have been able to do as much as we did when it was in May."

That philosophy may come from the fact that Discovery bought an existing store chain with a separate management that exists today.

"There is constant communication between the units, but we each have our own agendas," Harband says.

Conversely, the ESPN Zones have a direct bearing on the network. Several shows are shot in ESPN Zone venues, and the network is shown on TV screens littered about the establishments.