Kingston, N.Y. -- Regional News Network -- a UHF broadcast
station that has won must-carry status on cable systems in parts of New York, New Jersey
and Connecticut -- opened a broadcast studio at the Palisades Center Mall in West Nyack,
N.Y., last week.
RNN president Dick French said he wanted a venue where his
viewers could look in through the glass to see a live television broadcast, as they can
with NBC's Today in New York.
The studio has been built into an amphitheater with rows of
bleachers for the curious. It's also situated in view of the mall's food court,
which seats more than 1,000 people.
RNN also plans to use its proximity to mall tenants --
which include more than 250 stores, 26 movie theaters and 25 restaurants -- to pitch ad
sales. A sports bar within the mall, for example, will sponsor live sports reports in
front of its tavern. And RNN has signed a similar sponsorship with a vitamin shop for a
health-news report.
The network distributed fiber to different locations
throughout the mall in order to shoot live broadcasts without the need to run wire for the
camera crews each time.
RNN also plans to install television monitors throughout
the mall to show live fashion shows and other events that may or may not make it onto the
regional broadcast, which targets 3.2 million television households in the Hudson Valley.
At a special launch for the new studio, RNN evening-news
anchor Rolland Smith reported live from the mall on President's Day last Monday.
