Borders Installs In-Store TV Network

Ann Arbor, Mich., Borders is installing 37-inch flat-screen televisions to show original programming, advertisements, news and weather, according to a report in The New York Times.

The broadcast service, called Borders TV, has arrived in nearly 60 stores and is scheduled to reach an additional 250 stores by the end of February. Each store is slated to have two screens, the report said.

Borders’ partner in the venture is Ripple, a company that provides information such as news, traffic and weather to televisions installed in public places.

The advertisers that have purchased time on Borders TV are all “household names,” according to the report. For example, Ford will showcase its hybrid vehicles.

Jones said Borders customers tend to be “highly educated, more affluent” and spend an average of an hour in the store, the report said. “It’s becoming more and more difficult to reach people,” Jones said. “Newspapers are not as effective as they used to be. Television is not as easily reachable as it used to be. This becomes an attractive option.”