Local origination channels, home of the most local of local cable advertising ? photos of homes with text descriptions and prices, infomercials and community calendars ? are generating more revenue for Charter Communications systems in Wisconsin, thanks to a new centralized management system.

Charter contracted Multi-Image Network, a Chico, Calif., company that makes hardware and software for the creation and management of local origination channel content. The equipment allows Charter's Madison office to create professional-looking local origination channels ? which Charter calls Charter Main Street ? tailored for 15 different markets in the state.

Jeff Schultz, ad sales manager for Charter Media in southern Wisconsin, says that 2001 was a year for ?deployment, working out mechanics, putting the right people in the right places and getting everybody on the same platform.? After investing between $100,000 and $200,000 into Multi-Image Network equipment for its statewide rollout, Charter will focus on growing revenues during 2002.

With Charter Main Street now showing in 450,000 of Charter's homes statewide, Schultz expects cash flow to be around $500,000.

Dismissing the current advertising slump, Schultz says, ?We're not following the curve of the economy. We're going after advertising streams that weren't there before. We're going to see much more dramatic growth.?

Multi-Image Network president Kathy Schifferle believes in the potential profits of the underused local origination channels the same way she believes she's going to work tomorrow. Like most who sell advertising on local origination channels, Schifferle cites newspaper classified ads as the competition. Local newspapers generate revenues of $250 to $300 per subscriber per year in classified and retail advertising, according to Schifferle. If local origination channels can take 10% of that total, she says, ?people in cable would be flipping.? Some systems, she says, make $30 per subscriber as their yearly total in revenue.

Charter Main Street began as an Internet project, Schultz says. Charter had registered the domain name chartermainstreet.com in 1999, but when the operator didn't pursue the online initiative, Schultz and his team adopted the name for their local origination channel and in 2000 enlisted the aid of Multi-Image Network. After ?pretty dramatic growth? in the first year, Charter decided to pave all of Wisconsin with Charter Main Street.

After rebranding the channel with a sleek, professional look and a recognizable logo and implementing dayparting (focusing on different ad categories, such as real estate and auto sales, during different times of the day), Charter's advertising revenue from its local origination channel in Madison increased by 68%.

?One of the single most important benefits is that they've created a brand name for the channel ? Charter Main Street,? says Multi-Image Network president Shifferle. ?We've helped them develop standard promotions, intros and outros for the shows, a consistent look and feel and templates for the classified categories.?

In order to manage Charter Main Street, the staff in Madison has grown from four ? an operations manager, a producer and two account executives ? to 15. The beefed-up staff includes three full-time producers who manage 15 local origination channels statewide from the central office in Madison, three account executives in Madison and nine account executives statewide.

Account executives relay sales and other market news to producers via e-mail or fax. One advantage to this, Schultz says, is that ?in the old way, the salesperson used to have to get much more involved in the actual content of the commercial.? Now, he says, his account executives can focus on sales.

As for the producers, Schultz says, ?Before, maybe a spot producer would [manage local origination channel content] if they had time.? Now his three producers manage their own markets.

Schifferle points to another benefit of having dedicated producers: ?You want the producer to have an understanding of that local market.? And because the three producers who cover Wisconsin are working in the same office, the standardization of Charter Main Street's look and feel occurs more naturally.

Multi-Image Network has sold the idea ? Schifferle calls it ?video publishing? ? to the seven largest MSOs, as well as many smaller systems.

The turnkey system developed by Multi-Image Network, Mediastar, includes both software and hardware and integrates the photo-classified traffic and billing information with spot data that systems may already have in place. For a single system, the package costs between $50,000 and $100,000. Once the equipment is in place, Multi-Image Network trains both producers and account executives and provides ongoing support for clients over the phone via service contracts.

Beyond the basic cost, customers (such as Charter in Wisconsin) will pay for more head-end equipment ? or perhaps for such tailored services as video capability or a weather update feature.

For smaller systems, Schifferle says, their ?profit margins aren't as wide, but as they expand [video publishing], it will bring in revenue they wouldn't have had any other way.?

Carol Bair, SVP-planning of 1,250-subscriber Rainier Cable in Eatonville, Wash., recently bought a used Mediastar system ? including a special printer, a camera and traffic and billing software ? for around $50,000 late last year. Bair is launching a real estate show and is selling sponsorships of a community show on Rainier's local origination channel, named Scope 29.

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