Cablevision is combining its Optimum Autos interactive TV channel with the automotive sections of its owned newspaper, Newsday, to create local car-shopping environment for regional buyers and sellers across multiple platforms, including interactive TV, print and on the Web via OptimumAutos.com and Newsday.com, beginning Jan. 1.
Newsday will rebrand its print and online automotive sections as Optimum Autos as part of the plan. Cablevision’s Optimum Autos channel exists now on its interactive Optimum digital-cable platform on channel 605.
The combination will incorporate an enhanced search capability with interactive local auto content targeted to car sellers and buyers, car enthusiasts, collectors, spectators and others in the automotive industry.
Ken DePaola, Newsday’s executive vice president of sales and marketing, said in a release: “Cablevision’s Optimum Autos will provide our advertising customers with the best of all worlds: maximum coverage across print, interactive and cable TV platforms, easy to use technology for uploading, searching and reporting, and a customizable local environment that will cater to our marketplace’s automotive buyers and sellers like no other.”
“If you want to buy a car in this market, Optimum Autos will unquestionably be the place to go,” John Trierweiler, Cablevision’s senior vice president of product management, added in the release. “We will offer nothing less than the best car-buying experience online, in print and through interactive television. This new partnership is a perfect follow-up to the recent launch of Newsday TV, an interactive channel that allows Cablevision’s cable television customers to subscribe to the newspaper with just a few clicks of the remote control, and a potent example of the kinds of cross-platform synergies and integrations we believe will produce meaningful benefits and growth for both Newsday and Cablevision.”
