NEW YORK, January 13, 2010 — Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC) and Comcast Spotlight, the advertising sales division of Comcast Cable, have reached a new five-year agreement to continue their partnership involving the New York Interconnect. By extending the partnership, the New York Interconnect will be poised and ready to take advantage of new technological applications from both companies on a go-forward basis.
The New York Interconnect (NYI) continues to grow with offerings now including new and innovative interactive products for use by regional advertisers and their agencies. A full breadth of products are currently being offered from traditional :30 TV ads, online opportunities including interactive banners on Cablevision’s Optimum On-Line and Comcast.net and long form content with the ability to air 2-5 minutes of video across Cablevision and Comcast utilizing their interactive platform elements (i.e., Cablevision’s Market Showcase and Comcast Spotlight’s Searchlight VOD Advertising Platform).
The New York Interconnect, which for the past 10 years has been an LLC partnership between Cablevision and Comcast, provides advertisers in the New York DMA with the ability to buy spot television across more than 60 of the most popular cable networks. Advertisers can target any demographic or geographic segment of the more than 3.5 million households that are reached via the New York Interconnect’s state-of-the-art fiber optic delivery system.
Both parties are committed to the continued success of the partnership and look forward to a new era of further cooperation and collaboration. “We are pleased to be continuing to work in concert with Comcast on the largest interconnect of its kind in the nation,” said David Kline, president of Rainbow Advertising Sales Corporation. “Collectively we have provided the advertising community with the highest level of service as well as new and innovative advertising platforms that have offered marketers and their agencies with unique consumer engagement opportunities.”
Added David Kelly, Division Senior Vice President, Comcast Spotlight, “The New York Interconnect has raised the bar in the advertising sector year after year, and we look forward to continuing Comcast Spotlight’s successful partnership with Cablevision. While creatively serving the needs of our existing clients, our goal is to also attract new ones based on the cutting edge products we have regularly introduced into the marketplace.”
“We have been extremely pleased to partner with the New York Interconnect over these past years, “ remarked said, Nancy Larkin, SVP Director of Local Television for Horizon Media. “The ease of executing a media buy through one entity for the majority of the New York market has made our business, as well as our clients’ businesses, more streamlined. With this continuing agreement between Cablevision and Comcast, we look forward to utilizing the new advertising products that are being launched across the two entities in this market.”
About the New York Interconnect
Established in 1993, the New York Interconnect today is the largest interconnect in the country, and represents a partnership between Cablevision and Comcast. The Executive Vice President/General Manager of NYI is Ed Renicker and it is managed by Rainbow Advertising Sales Corporation (RASCO.). RASCO is the advertising division of Cablevision and is the cable industry’s largest and most diverse advertising representation firm.
Press Contacts:
Charlstie Laytin Veith
Cablevision
516-803-2357
claytin@cablevision.com
Don Ciaramella
The Lippin Group
212-986-7080
don@lippingroup.com