• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, October 3, 2007

ABC is seeking green on the links. The network's sales arm for its owned-and-operated stations is pitching inventory on screens inside the carts used at some 400 golf courses.

The four-year agreement with Arizona company ProLink Solutions, covering ads on drop-down screens the company has installed in carts, provides golfers with updated, real-time info as they navigate the course.

The carts use GPS technology to provide hole-by-hole info, such as renderings of the layout and germane tips from pros, while updating the distance to the green for the players as their carts drive the course.

The ads are static and cover a quarter of the 10-inch screen as the cart moves from tee to green. Once it arrives, the screen morphs into a full-screen placement.

ABC will earn commissions on sales from ProLink based partly on the prominence of the advertisers it brings in, according to an SEC filing. ProLink is looking to entice more blue-chip national marketers.

As the market tightens at local stations, the sales groups for networks' O&Os (ABC has 10) have looked to add out-of-home options to offer advertisers, ranging from grocery stores to taxis to gas stations to massive screens in Times Square.

A ProLink representative said national advertisers General Motors and HBO have advertised with the company recently. The pay-cable network carries the comedy "Entourage," where the characters are avid golfers.

ProLink's technology allows for ads to be customized by hole. For instance, Anheuser-Busch could be interested in plugging Budweiser on the 18th hole, hoping to create some interest about what will take place at the "19th."

ProLink has sold the space alone until now and will continue to do so through its media arm; the ABC rep firm will now help on a national level. A division of ABC National Television Sales created to handle new-media areas will take the lead. ABC could sell the space by itself or as part of package deals, perhaps linked with the golf coverage that appears in the network.

Both ProLink and ABC are banking that advertisers will be enticed by the opportunity to reach a potentially affluent target.

Courses pay ProLink to place its GPS systems inside their carts, but share in ad sales revenue. The company says it has a presence on some 35,000 screens on the 400 courses.

In January, ProLink Holdings, which claims to control the vast majority of the market involving in-cart ad sales and GPS systems, raised $10.4 million in a round of financing. The company's stock closed Monday at 93 cents a share, up about 3%.