Wal-Mart's satellite beams Garth Brooks live into stores

Drug Store News, March 1, 1999

When is a retailer's satellite network a marketing tool? Whenever that satellite system can be used to pull traffic into thousands of stores around the country, particularly during the peak Christmas selling season.

In a marriage of marketing and technological ingenuity, Wal-Mart recently used its satellite network, developed by Germantown, Md.-based Hughes Network Systems, to broadcast an exclusive, live Garth Brooks concert into its stores on Nov. 17, just as the holiday shopping season was moving into full gear. A Wal-Mart spokesperson said the exclusive Brooks concert, which reached all 2,300 Wal-Mart stores, was "proof of how retail shopping is evolving to reflect the demands of customers who want more than just to buy merchandise at a low price."

The Brooks broadcast was the third in an ongoing series of live entertainment broadcasts that Wal-Mart has produced by satellite exclusively for its customers.