A campaign for the U.S. Navy is the first to combine digital touch screens and mall storefront displays. The two-month "Navy For Moms" initiative launched last month in four major malls in the Dallas and Oklahoma City areas. Shoppers can manually manipulate images on a display screen to see videos, postcards and pictures of Navy officers and their moms. This is the first significant installation in a mall location for Inwindow Outdoor, which last October announced partnerships with three of the largest mall owners in the U.S. to convert vacant storefront and mall space into ad displays.

Thirty-five television stations will go dark after June 12, when the nation converts to all-digital broadcast TV, according to the FCC. Of those stations, 18 are experiencing financial difficulty. The other 17 stations are going dark for technical reasons -- they may be able to resurrect their digital signal by the end of the year, says FCC rep Eloise Gore. All but one of the 18 doomed stations are owned by Equity Media Holdings. Transitioning to all-digital broadcasting is costly for TV stations because it requires new equipment and changes in how their broadcast towers are positioned. About …

Although headlines about the U.S. car industry have sounded dire, Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Michael Nathanson says that because consumer demand for new autos "has rarely been this weak, at some point in 2010, it will strengthen." That rebound will strengthen local ad markets, "most notably local TV stations," he says. Based on his research, Nathanson increased his fiscal-year 2010 earnings-per-share estimates on CBS Corp., Walt Disney and News Corp. and his price targets across sector stocks. He even upgraded CBS shares to "market perform." Auto ads declined 17% in 2008, with TV stations seeing an outsized 33% …

Verizon Communications wants to give customers of its FiOS TV service a choice of how to buy and view video, while using information about them to sell targeted advertising. So says Joseph Ambeault, Verizon director of product development, as he explains his company's long-term plans. FiOS TV's subscriber base doubled in 2008 to 1.9 million. The service delivers traditional real-time TV over its fiber network, while video-on-demand and other interactive features are delivered to the TV via the Internet. Though the service is still evolving, the carrier's ultimate goal is to give consumers a choice on each …

Clear Channel Airports and DoubleTake Marketing will soon be wrapping ads around airport baggage carousels. Advertisers will be able to display messages on the moving portion of the carousels in major airports including Chicago O'Hare, Philadelphia, Seattle, Boston and Chicago Midway. Ad sizes range from 20-foot segments to an entire bag belt. "Advertisers are seeking innovative ideas of how to best reach their targeted demographic," says Zack Clark, DoubleTake Marketing co-founder. He points out that travelers are a captive audience for the ads as they wait for their luggage. Airline travelers also tend to be a desirable demo. …

Former Vice President Al Gore, who co-founded Current Media, thinks it's time for old views of advertising to die. Current is an experimental cable news channel that relies heavily on user-created content for both editorial and ads. More than half of Current's ads are selected, viewer-created videos about the brands that have signed up. The winner is paid by the advertiser, and receives an additional payment if the advertiser wants to use the video outside of Current. In either case, it costs marketers significantly less than the production budget of a traditional TV ad. Gore believes that the …

Disney-ABC Television, Hearst and NBC Universal are discussing putting cable channels A&E and Lifetime together in a joint venture. The three media companies already share ownership in A&E Television Networks. Disney and Hearst each own 37.5% in A&E and NBC Universal holds the remaining 25%. Lifetime is run by a 50/50 joint venture of Hearst and Walt Disney Co, called Lifetime Entertainment Services. When complete, the new deal will expand a growing relationship between Disney and NBC Universal, which are also partners in the online company Hulu. Hearst and ABC jointly own ESPN, but it's not part of the …

Time Warner has yet to dispose of AOL, but there's lots of chatter about CEO Jeff Bewkes' next move. Some observers think he plans to sell off the company's namesake Time Inc. publishing unit next year. Pali Capital analyst Rich Greenfield says Bewkes and the Time Warner board "have no emotional attachment to the assets within Time Warner. We would not be surprised to see Time Warner seek a separation or sale of its magazine publishing division." With the inherent difficulties of shifting Time Inc.'s magazine business to an online subscription model, "we believe it may make sense …

Ignoring critics, WPP shareholders approved the third round of the holding company's LEAP executive bonus scheme. Under the plan, CEO Martin Sorrell stands to earn around $96 million on an initial investment of $20 million, if WPP outperforms a group of nine companies over five years. Twenty other WPP senior execs are part of the scheme. While Sorrell stands to enjoy a big payday if WPP shares outperform competitors in each of the five years, no LEAP match will be paid if WPP performs below the median 50th percentile. About 80.4% of shareholders voted in favor of the …

There's no place to go but up for the prime time Emmys. CBS and the TV Academy have several ideas to breathe new life into the awards show. Among the possibilities: fewer awards handed out during the program and a return to a traditional host. Other changes might be to move some categories into the Creative Arts Emmy ceremony and to give CBS and the producers flexibility in deciding which categories should appear, depending on their nominees. The buzz is that this year's host will be Craig Ferguson, who scores critical acclaim on the "Late Late Show." Last …