PRN partners with the TV Guide Channel for digital signage content

This is a pretty cool idea, as noted over at aka.tv:

Premier Retail Networks (PRN) has partnered with TV Guide Channel and TV Guide SPOT – a network developed specifically for the on-demand television environment – to provide content to PRN's in-store digital-signage networks at major grocery and electronics chains across the United States.

TV Guide's programming, which includes daily "Watch This" segments highlighting the best of primetime television, will reach over 57m viewers nationwide in over 3000 grocery stores including Albertsons, Best Buy and Circuit City, according to PRN. The TV Guide content will also be made available to PRN's largest retail partner, Wal-Mart. According to a spokesperson for PRN, there has been no provision yet to include the TV Guide programming in the Wal-Mart TV contetn loop, although it is likely that this will happen.

Think about it, and the partnership makes perfect sense. PRN gets free content for its in-store digital signage network, and is now providing an additional service to consumers instead of just advertising in-store products (yes, I know they do a lot more, like showing live concerts or up-to-the-minute disaster/emergency information). In return, TV Guide reaches a bigger audience, and probably sells a few more of their paper magazines to boot.