• by Fern Siegel , January 3, 2008

Hotels nationwide have checked into a new revenue stream.

Superwire is marketing a new digital ad insertion technology to the hospitality industry. The initial agreement, in partnership with Resort Media Group, launches in 25 hotels in Texas, Arizona and California.

The move allows Superwire--a multimedia group that services interactive TV, telephone and broadband to hotel/recreation communities--to provide 8 to 16 channels of digital ad insertion on cable networks, such as ESPN, CNN and TBS, to hotel chains like Holiday Inn and Radisson.

Under the terms of the agreement, RMG will also market the Superwire Ad Insertion system to the top 1,500 hotels in major U.S. cities.

Once deployed, Superwire will target local, regional and national ads to the leisure travel market. Richard Smith, chairman of Superwire, says the program will "create new, valuable advertising space in a market segment previously out of reach of our advertisers."

Cliff Hall, president of RMG, adds that it's an avenue of "increased revenue" for the hotel trade with "minimal up-front investment."

RMG also offers ad-supported Hotel Guides, Video on Demand and special TV-specific interface capabilities to provide controlled access to content from the Web. Guests can listen to hometown radio, news and traffic in addition to other online content.