CBS Outernet joins forces with Ripple TV for digital signage content placement

AdWeek is reporting that CBS Outernet (formerly known as SignStorey), have partnered with Ripple TV, giving them access to, "more than 1,500 U.S. locations, including retailers such as Borders, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Jack In The Box and Tully's."

While it does look peculiar coming on the heels of all this news about NBC's digital signage upfront, given that CBS dropped over $70 million to acquire SignStorey just a few months ago I think it's safe to say they've been thinking of ways to best grow their investment. And the deal apparently extends beyond Ripple's reach as well:

"CBS has also formed an alliance with Automotive Broadcasting Network. ABN places car-related content through a private network in over 20,000 dealerships.

"CBS has agreed to let ABN use clips from The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, Entertainment Tonight, 60 Minutes and The Early Show."

So what will ABC do next week? :) Actually, a much more interesting question (to me, at least), is what will SeeSaw Networks do? Both of these recent deals have put the big broadcast networks in the driver's seat, and indeed we've seen now that they're more than willing to partner with other existing networks themselves. This could leave SeeSaw in an awkward position since their value-add is being able to make those deals happen seamlessly, but that's apparently a service offering that at least NBC and CBS haven't seemed to need.

Only somewhat related, these articles that feature companies like CBS and NBC seem to draw a lot more traffic than normal. To you newcomers, welcome! If you're just getting your feet wet in the digital signage market, I suggest you check out this digital signage primer to answer some basic questions about the industry.

Tags: digital signage, digital signage upfront, Ripple TV, CBS

CBS to buy SignStorey for $71.5M!

Wow, $71.5M is a lot of money, but apparently CBS wants SignStorey's 1,400 grocery store network badly enough that they're willing to pay. Here are the early details, as reported by Forbes:

CBS Corp. said Thursday it will pay $71.5 million in cash to buy SignStorey Inc., which provides grocery stores with in-store video screens to display video programming and advertising.

Once the deal closes - which CBS expects will happen during its fourth quarter - SignStorey will be renamed "CBS Outernet."

SignStorey currently has digital video displays in more than 1,400 grocery stores across the country, and the company has long-term exclusive deals with grocers like Pathmark Stores Inc. and SuperValu Inc.

CBS has worked with SignStorey since 2006, when it signed a deal with the company to provide shopping-specific content for its screens.

[UPDATE]: I had the chance to run some numbers, and the results are pretty interesting. It looks like this might have been a fair-to-low offer for the company. SignStorey CPM and cost per ad estimates are up at the WireSpring Digital Signage blog!

Tags: digital signage, SignStorey, CBS