Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 16, 1994 TAG: 9406220074
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
\ Are you annoyed by those advertising signs showing up behind home plate in more big league baseball parks?
Get used to it. Technology is giving advertisers more opportunities to slip their names into the background of baseball telecasts, even in parks that refuse to allow billboards behind the plate.
Baseball's moguls awoke last year to the revenue potential of billboards behind home plate, especially those that allow sponsors to change their messages repeatedly during a game.
The Detroit Tigers and Milwaukee Brewers tried the boards last summer and renewed them this year. Six other teams have joined them.
The location appeals to advertisers because it exploits the most popular TV camera angle - the view from center field as the hitter is at bat. That shot is on the screen for an estimated 40 percent of the telecast.
As the camera lingers to show a batter waiting for the pitch, the advertiser interlopes on the game's essential confrontation. The viewer won't likely zap this message as he can by changing channels during between-inning commercials.
Teams see the billboards as a new way to offset rising player salaries and hedge against the uncertainty of TV revenues. By some reckonings, teams can raise $750,000 to $2 million-plus a year depending on market size by selling backstop billboard space.
Critics say the billboards are distracting and intrusive. Some players say the signs make it harder to see the ball. TV stations are upset because they aren't sharing billboard ad revenue and must watch for potential conflicts between their sponsors' commercials and rivals' names on the billboard.
Now inventors have devised a new system that will create electronic billboards visible only to people watching games on TV.
Princeton Electronic Billboards Inc. in Princeton, N.J., has been testing what have been dubbed ``virtual billboards'' with the Baltimore Orioles and its telecasters.
Working with the David Sarnoff Research Center, Princeton Electronic Billboards developed a computerized system that inserts images electronically into TV shows.
Before a game, the TV cameras scan the arena and ``memorize'' features of the park like creases in the padding on the wall behind home plate and other boundaries that define a virtual billboard.
When the camera passes those features during the telecast, the system inserts the sign, or the part of it visible in the camera's frame of reference.
Ballplayers on the field appear to walk in front of the sign. The TV audience ideally will be unable to tell whether the billboard hangs in the ballpark or only in cyberspace.
Sam McCleery, a Princeton Electronic marketing executive, said the possibilities for advertisers and telecasters are staggering.
Local sponsors could buy a billboard in a national telecast, for example, while a national advertiser could deliver different messages in each market.
``General Motors could say, `For this game, we want a Chevy message for Chicago, a Buick message for New York and GMC trucks in that space in El Paso,''' McCleery said.
The possibilities would multiply if the telecast were carried internationally.
McCleery declined to discuss results of the Baltimore tests. His company hopes to make the system available commercially to Baltimore and other teams before the baseball season ends this fall.
Some industry executives say the arrival of virtual billboards would diminish the value of real signs at the park. But others say it will always be important for advertisers to reach fans in the stands.
The electronic boards could be a competitive threat, however, for the signs behind home plate designed expressly for TV exposure.
Some telecasters are uncomfortable with the backstop signs. They often sell advertising with a guarantee that the buyer will be the only company in its business in the broadcast. A conflict would arise if a competing brand were to show up during the game on a billboard behind home plate.
The MSG Network, a cable network that carries New York Yankees games, hasn't lost any advertisers because of conflicts with Yankee Stadium sign sponsors, spokesman Paul Schneider said. But he said MSG was concerned about the potential impact and added, ``We're not necessarily happy with it.''
And Michael Jacobson of the Center for the Study of Commercialism said he doesn't like either actual or virtual billboards.
``People are fed up with advertising, but the advertisers are relentless and looking for any possible niche to get their brand name before the public,'' he said.
by CNB