• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, January 4, 2010

In a major move toward consolidation of taxi-based media in New York City, VeriFone Holdings has acquired Clear Channel Outdoor's Taxi Media division, without disclosing the terms of the deal.

VeriFone said the Taxi Media operation would be integrated with its Media Solutions business, which focuses on delivering digital, place-based, interactive media and advertising to consumers at the point of sale, which includes paid transportation.

The acquisition of Taxi Media gives VeriFone access to 5,000 more taxi cabs in New York City, almost doubling its existing network of 6,500 cabs, for a total reach of 90% of all cabs in the city.

The deal also brings VeriFone the expertise and client relationships possessed by 20 Taxi Media sales reps.

VeriFone particularly aims to leverage the growing popularity of electronic payment in areas (like taxis) previously dominated by cash transactions. In just a few years, interactive digital screens allowing payment by credit card have become ubiquitous in New York City cabs.

After a pilot program testing the GPS-linked screens in 500 cabs, New York's Taxi and Limousine Commission mandated the screens for all cabs in September 2007. (That led to a short-lived strike by cabbies who claimed the TLC might use GPS data to track their movements, revealing drivers' trade secrets.)

At that time, Clear Channel Taxi Media was already partnered with NBC to create NY10, a channel playing news, weather, entertainment programming, public service announcements and advertising.

Conversely, New York's WABC partnered with VeriFone to produce Taxi TV, featuring content from WABC's Eyewitness News, AccuWeather and Reuters Business News, as well as restaurant, nightlife, retail and hotel listings and ratings from the Zagat Survey. In June 2008, VeriFone announced the addition of additional content from People.com and PMbuzz.com.