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URBAN GETS INTO TV

As Simon Property Group and others build digital networks to deliver content to mall shoppers via common-area plasma screens, Urban Retail Properties’ new TV initiative targets different audiences — the 12,000 chains in its retailer database.

At ICSC’s Spring Convention, the Chicago-based REIT announced plans to get into the TV business by rolling out the URTV Television Network. The idea, according to CEO Ross Glickman, is to use a live-feed, digital satellite network to enable retailers to lower costs, boost sales, generate new advertising revenues and bolster their corporate communications. Urban offers the technology to any retailer — not just those in its portfolio, Glickman notes.

URTV’s potential uses are manifold: Product companies and others who wish to bring messages into retail stores can buy ads on the screens; chains can broadcast a live promotional event to all their stores; CEOs and head buyers can interact directly with associates in real time; and retailers, through Urban’s access to some 4,200 MGM movies, can use film clips to create attractive, low-cost in-store campaigns that air on the network. “We choose to put it within the confines of retail stores,” Glickman adds. “But this application can be used anywhere — in any real industry that has a need for it.”

— JG