Several major cable operators are offering an Elections ’08 On Demand channel in an effort to test weather the industry can work together as partners under the new industry initiative Canoe Venture to compete against Web video for viewers and advertising dollars, the New York Times reports. Up since January, the channel is available in 32 million homes and offers about eight hours of political material ranging from Lyndon Johnson’s famous “Daisy” ad to an infomercial for Barack Obama. Only 500,000 of the segments have been viewed, the paper says. “What we’ve accomplished with Elections ’08 may not feel and sound like a huge success story to the layperson, but behind the curtain, we’ve laid the foundation for the cable operators working together in an unprecedented manner,” says David Porter, VP for marketing and new media at Cox Communications, one of the operators involved in Canoe, which aims to standardize and coordinate interactive and addressable advertising for the cable industry.
—Sergio Ibarra