12/18/2008 15h37
BusTV plans investing U$ 4.35 million and expanding TV network to buses
Valor Econômico - 12/18/2008
Reaching an audience of 600 thousand people every day, or 18 million a month, from B and C classes in five of the largest capitals of the country, can be fairly attractive for any announcer, specially when it is a time for cutting costs. It is with that hope that BusTV, a company that produces and sells electronic media inside urban buses, intends to invest R$ 10 million (US$ 4.35 million) in the expansion of its operations in 2009. Nowadays, the company has two thousand LCD screens installed in one thousand buses in seven capitals (five of them as franchises). The goal is to end 2009 with twice as much monitors and buses, getting to seven other metropolises until March, with franchisees. "We will improve the program with the launching, in March, of an exclusive series for our network, similar to the "
A Grande Família" show, says the director of BusTV, João Coragem, making reference to the weekly TV show featured on Globo network. According to the businessman, of the nearly one thousand e-mails sent every month sent by the users of public transportation, most ask for soccer and soap operas in the TV program. The request for soccer has already been taken care of with the creation of a compact with the best moments of the matches. "We are evaluating the possibility of also airing a brief summary of the soap operas featured on open TV", affirms Coragem. But with a series produced at home, BusTV has more chances of increasing by 40% the income expected for 2009. "With our own production, the announcers will have more freedom to make merchandising", says Coragem, which may end the year with an income of R$ 8 million, result of its own operations in Rio and São Paulo and royalties received form the franchisers in the other capitals - Recife, Salvador, Brasília, Belo Horizonte and Porto Alegre. Today, with two thousand monitors installed in seven cities, BusTV reaches 18 million users a month. This "network" and the number of passengers must double until March, when the new shows should start being shown in buses in Natal, João Pessoa, Belém, Manaus, São Luís, Amapá, and Vitória.
