LOS ANGELES SBC Communications, already entrenched in the development of its $4 billion Project Lightspeed, has named John Penney executive director of strategy and advertising management on the Internet protocol-based TV, video, voice and data initiative, a telecom representative said.
“There are inefficiencies in TV marketing, and [we] really are trying to provide a better environment for advertisers” said Penney, based at SBC headquarters in San Antonio.
Explaining that the so-called IPTV initiative was “not some theoretical 10-year plan,” Penney said Project Lightspeed was on track to provide consumers with “a holistic environment” delivering IP-based television, high-speed broadband, telephone and wireless product bundles and services via a combination of copper wire and fiber optics.
Project Lightspeed will be installed in 18 million households across 13 states between the end of this year and 2007, according to SBC reports.
Penney said the project would allow marketers to “be more actively in control of media choices” and “offer new opportunities to get closer to target audiences, new environments for content delivery and marketing.”
A Los Angeles-based programming team is currently working to develop complementary content-delivery strategies, according to an SBC statement issued this morning.
Although he preferred to “stay away from specific advertising examples because it’s a competitive field,” Penney noted the telecom is “really defining the strategy for IPTV rollout.” According to a representative, SBC would consider dedicating up to three minutes per hour toward local ad spot sales, as well as potentially reserve inventory for consumer-interactive commercials.
“It’s big, but the time is right,” Penney said. “At the end of the day, this is simply better TV.”
Prior to joining SBC, Penney was vice president of business development at Home Box Office, New York. Before that, he served as executive vice president of licensing and business development at ACTV, New York.
SBC Moves Forward on Project Lightspeed
