Purdue News

August 6, 1999 Local ads coming to Purdue cable system WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Television advertisers will be able to reach a prime demographic group later this year as advertising insertion comes to Purdue University's on-campus cable TV system. Tim Gennett, director of facilities for housing and food service, said Insight Media Advertising will sell advertising time on the University Residences Television Antenna System. Insight Media Advertising is associated with the cable television provider for the Lafayette and West Lafayette areas. Insight will pay Purdue a percentage of the gross receipts and estimates the university will net about $14,000 during 1999-2000. The University Residences cable system serves the more than 12,000 students who live in university housing, along with the guest rooms at the Purdue Memorial Union. About 80 percent of the students receiving the service are 18 to 21 years old. The revenue will be used to offset the operating costs for the cable system and expand services, Gennett said. "Housing and Food Services spends about $500,000 each year to operate the cable TV system. Prior to this, the only way to recover this cost was to build it into the room rate," Gennett said. "The university residences and the Union are self-supporting, and the revenues received from ad insertion will help us keep the cost of on-campus housing and lodging affordable. Insight has been successfully selling and inserting advertising on its system for many years, and we believe they will do an excellent job managing the process for us." The ads can be placed on as many as 14 of the 33 channels offered on the system, including A&E, Comedy Central, Lifetime, MTV and the Discovery Channel. Students, however, will not see an increase in advertising. "The advertising we insert simply replaces other advertising run by the network. The quality and quantity of the network's programming is not affected," Gennett said. "Many local merchants count Purdue students as a primary customer, and some of these merchants have, in the past, asked us how they can better reach the students living on campus," Gennett said. "This advertising will introduce our students to local products and companies and will help these companies reach this key demographic group." The residence hall system features the Indianapolis and Lafayette broadcast channels available to the Lafayette area, plus 20 national cable networks and four local programming channels, including a channel for movies called Boiler Television, and a channel for live campus events. Source: Tim Gennett, (765) 494-1000 Writer: J. Michael Willis, (765) 494-0371; e-mail, mike_willis@purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page