Boston-area Shaw's Installing Media Network

WEST BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Shaw's Supermarkets here is installing 15-inch video monitors at checkout counters, in addition to 42-inch plasma TV screens, at 93 Shaw's and Star Market stores in the Boston area, as part of a chainwide media network, according to a report in the city's Herald newspaper.

Programming on the smaller monitors consists of a 12-minute loop featuring hit movies, new DVD releases, medical information, news, sports, weather bulletins, recipes, and advertisements.

The large screens, which are being placed along the perimeter in one or two locations in each store, show customized food programming and store specials. The Shaw's logo and rewards card are prominently displayed.

"The in-store media network is a great way for us to communicate directly with our customers, providing them with the most up-to-date information on product promotions, special offers, [and] meal ideas, in addition to the updates on local news and weather," Shaw's spokeswoman Teresa Edington told the Herald.

The media network was launched in April by Shaw's parent company, Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons, Inc. San Francisco-based Premier Retail Networks Corp supplies weekly updated content for the checkout screens, from such partners as Food Network, Access Hollywood, and Entertainment Weekly, with programming tailored to magazines available at checkout. Fairfield, Conn.-based SignStorey provides content for the bigger TVs.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart introduced its media network, Wal-Mart TV, in 1998 and now features it at almost all of the retailer's 2,600-plus locations, where 130 million viewers every month have access to it, making it the fifth-largest U.S. television network, following NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox, according to Wal-Mart.
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