Turner Network Sales announced last week its first-quarter 2002 promotions. One new initiative, TBS Superstation's Reel Meals, aims for a rare cable partner: grocery stores. Though traditionally they advertise in local newspapers, in recent years grocery stores have diverted some of that business to cable.

Through Reel Meals, an exclusive local grocer will buy cable avails during airings of TBS's Dinner and a Movie that showcase recipes featuring specific companies' food products. In turn, according to Coleman Breland, SVP-marketing, Turner Network Sales, the grocers offset their cost for the buy: Companies whose products are featured in the Reel Meal recipe will pay for that exposure.

Another of Turner's promotions is CNN Headline News's Time-Making Tips, targeting what CNN Headline News calls ?time warriors?: people who work a lot and watch television in disjointed spurts. (Time Warriors also constitute much of CNN Headline News's ?upscale audience? and are desirable targets of advertisers.)

Time-Making Tips, offered to 100 systems on a first-come, first-served basis (provided they have 30,000 or more subscribers), gives local systems a series of taggable spots that help viewers ?put time back into their busy days,? according to Turner. Local sponsors will be featured as sage time-management advisers.

Turner also announced the upcoming Cartoon Network Bowling Club, which partners the popular cable net with bowling centers in local markets. The campaign, aimed at capturing a larger part of the bowling set, ages 6 to 11 (?bowling's fastest growing segment of bowlers,? according to a Turner press release), for the Cartoon Network audience, begins January 2002 and lasts for 15 weeks.

Participating local systems will receive a taggable video from Turner, which local bowling centers can insert into local advertising avails and use to promote the bowling club. Bowling centers also will receive promotional kits to aid them with the campaign.

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