• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, October 1, 2007

A strike last month by New York City taxi drivers protesting installation of digital video screens with a GPS component hasn’t slowed the efforts of media companies supplying content and advertising for the screens.

NY10, a channel created by Clear Channel Taxi Media and NBC that plays news, weather and entertainment programming, is already in 1,100 taxis with a goal of reaching 5,000 by early next year. Among advertisers already airing 30-second spots on NY10 are Panasonic, Smirnoff, New Line Cinema, Yahoo and Barnes & Noble.

Tom Haymond, general manager of NY10, says taxi riders are more likely to be younger and more affluent than average in the local market and are about evenly split between men and women. “So it’s a very desirable audience, and totally captive,” he says.

Separately, New York’s WABC has partnered with VeriFone to produce Taxi TV, featuring content from WABC’s Eyewitness News, AccuWeather and ESPN, as well as restaurant, nightlife, retail and hotel listings and ratings from the Zagat Survey. Owners of taxi medallions were required to have video systems installed by Oct. 1.