Marketing

Due to its success, Cablevision continues to extend its $90/month promo bundle, which was originally slated to end July 31. During the MSO’s latest earnings call, COO Tom Rutledge said ARPU from subs who’ve opted into the promo was $110 for 2Q, vs $82.60 for those who didn’t. — AT&T got its foot in the retail door, announcing a pact to promote "CallVantage" VoIP service in Best Buy’s 628 outlets nationwide. — A natural for Universal Pictures to turn to The Tennis Channel to help market "Wimbledon," the Kirsten Dunst film that opens nationwide Sept 17. Tennis will run a sweepstakes and behind-the-scenes programming on the film. — Hoping to improve its less-than-stellar image, Comcast is launching a major ad campaign in the Bay Area. The MSO hired Palo Alto ad shop Diamond Morgan Northend Albers to craft a series of "reality based" ads that purportedly spotlight a skeptical DirecTV sub. The catch? The "sub" is actually an employee of the ad agency, though he claims the series of spots won’t be scripted. Sounds like a risky strategy … after all, what if the guy decides he prefers DirecTV after all?