• L.A. Times, Monday, October 17, 2011 2:32 PM

Want some fries with your in-store TV? Customers visiting 800 McDonald's restaurants in southern and central California in the next few months will see the rollout of McDonald's Channel, set to provide local news, human interest stories and entertainment features, with about a minute and a half of McDonald's promotion per 20-minute pod. If the initial venture is successful, the program may go national.

"Programming will be anything but low-key and grass-roots," what with the participation of reality TV guru Mark Burnett, along with input from BBC America and  KABC-TV Eyewitness News, writes Greg Braxton and Joe Flint.

And, yes, there will be customers hanging around to watch the channel, because McDonald's has "become more of a destination," according to a company spokesperson quoted in the piece.

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