09-10-07 Item 7D, Clear Channel - Laserfiche WebLink

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BILLBOARDS in the DIGITAL AGE J IMAGINE DRIVING along a twisting, two-lane Alabama road at night. As you slow for a curve, suddenly an enormous television screen pops into your field of vision, temporarily blinding you before flashing an ad for an insur- ance company. The glaring lights of this particular sign, slapped up in subur- ban Vestavia Hills, blindsided city zoning officials as well. They had unknowingly given entree to digital billboard technology when they approved what appeared to be a routine application to add lighting to a sign grandfathered in years ago. The appli- cation made no mention of changeable messages and gave no indication it would transform an old, static board into a giant vehicle for digital TV-like images. Police officers immediately complained the board posed a major safety hazard. Neighbors complained about the glaring lights. Lamar Advertising Company. which owns the board, claimed they'd made the changes in "good faith," Anyone who has been following the digital-billboard movement may recognize that argument as a popular tactic employed by an industry that finds it easier to ask localities for forgiveness than permission. It's one of many strategies being used to bring digital technology to as many cities and towns as possible, before localities have a chance to explore the implications of the new technology, update their sign ordinances, or ban digital signs outright. "There's a full-court press going on at the national, state, and local level, being waged by Lamar, Clear Channel, and CBS Outdoor," said Bill Brinton, an attorney specializing in sign law and a member of the board of Scenic America. Lobbyists are pushing state legislators to pass bills that clear the way for LED (light-emitting diode) signs on state and federal roads, and the industry is pressuring state departments of transpor- tation to rewrite regulations to allow them to transform static signs into digital boards. And in cities and counties aCI:OSS America, they are pressing for looser sign ordinances or simply installing the new technology without permission to do so. "For in-your-ftce results that won't end in a restraining order, out-ofhome is the only way to go." www.lalllilroutdoor.com Digital signs are far more of a threat than their predecessors, said Kevin Fry, president of Scenic America. They're brighter, which makes them visible from far greater distances; they're much more distracting, because of their brightness and because the messages are constandy changing; they're often taller than regular boards, giving the appearance oflarge, plasma-screen TVs; and they're substantially more expensive to remove, so localities without amortization laws could find themselves unable to afford taking them down. 1his would be especially true for signs along federal-aid highways where the use of amortization is prohibited by the Highway Beautification Act. Despite higher installation costs, the profitability of digital boards provides a powerful incentive for companies to put up as many as possible. Clear Channel Outdoor spent $3.5 million converting seven static boards to digital in Cleveland, but watched revenue jump from $300,000 to $3 million in the netw-ork's first year, according to Mark P. Mays, Clear Channel's CEO. That's because digital boards allow companies to sell ad space to 10 times as many clients as static ones; most signs change messages every six seconds. They also allow advertisers to change content several times a day or week, and unlike the static boards, which require contractors to change messages manually, digital boards allow operators to change content from remote locations in a matter of seconds, with just a click of a mouse. Lamar Advertising boasts that it has digital billboards in as many as 44 states. Clear Channel, the world's largest outdoor advertising company, is similarly upfront about its goals for spreading digital technology. In a November 2006 press release announcing the launch of multi-sign digital networks in Milwaukee and Tampa, Clear Channel Outdoor Global President Paul Meyer put it blundy: ~