Clear Channel Plans To Roll Out Digital Billboards

Tree131 writes "Just in case you don't have enough distractions driving on the highway, Clear Channel is planning to roll out digital billboards. The new billboards will feature ads that depend on the time of day as well as the general area demographics. I wonder how long before someone with lots of time on their hands hacks into the system and starts tampering with the messages."

Comments

Nothing new?

[Dj Stingray]

We even have digital billboards in Salt Lake already..... I thought they had these everywhere..

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A possible reason

[Anonymous Coward]

Here in Indianapolis, a freeze has been placed upon creating new billboards - not unlike liquor licenses. Of course, that means some cry foul and claim they can't put up their material. What it does, just like liquor licenses, is raise the value of existing ones.

As far as most existing digital boards, I've seen some and they seem to be mostly like Amber alerts or something simple telling you about a blocked entrance ramp three miles ahead.

Re:Too many temptations

[Technician]

If they use a regular FM broadcast (why pay a paging company) and it's subchannel to send the information to the billboard, then the protocol would be sniffable. The trick would be swamping the input on the billboard to get your signal into it. You would have to be pretty close to do it since you are competing with a 50KW station most of the time.

For more information on subchannels, Google SCA subchannel.

Fuck FCC, not Clear Channel if you want to

[InfiniteWisdom]

The FCC imposed a half-million dollar fine, and more seriously threatened to cancel their license due to the repeated flagrant violations. That is a risk simply not worth taking for them.

Re:Lawyers

[michaelhood]

I see these on the 405 every day (Los Angeles). It's already been done. No clue why this was news-worthy. If ClearChannel doesn't already have these, they're behind the times.

Re:Why do you think they call them BillBoards, any

[ChrisMG999]

IIRC that one still stands because it is on Native American Reservation land. That or it's grandfathered in, since electronic billboards are illegal in the state of Washington.

Re:Well, just call some Congressional hearings

[killjoe]

" Clear Channel, like any other huge media company, doesn't have a "true" political leaning."

Nonsense. Most corporations give more money to one party then the other. Some corporations give money depending on who is in power but others (like clearchannel) always give more money to one party then the other.

It's patently nonsensical to claim that clear channel does not have a political leaning. They are clearly republicans. Not only does the corporation give way more money to republicans (around 200K for republicans around 25K for democrats) but they have also pulled ads that critize the president.

In France...

[dargaud]

I recently came back to France and noticed that the country side drives seemed a lot... cleaner. It took me a while to figure out that there were no more billboard signs. Upon inquiry I learnt that they are now illegal outside of city boundaries. Very nice.

Clear channel is *not* into content

[SgtChaireBourne]

Don't make the mistake of thinking that clear channel is into relaying content. It's a marketing company pure and simple.

Clear Channel's main service is piping advertising to the populace and their customers are those who pay Clear Channel to pump ads. Though they would prefer to stay out of the public's attention, the executives are very, very up front about it. To achieve that goal, a minimum of music or other non-revenue generating transmissions must be used until people can get by on just the ads.

Personally, I look on advertising as noise at best and disinformation at worst. Given the effectiveness of marketing and lobbying, you can also raise questions about it subverting or circumventing the democratic process.