McDonald’s is rolling out an in-store television network called (what else?) McTV, featuring content from the BBC (?), reality-show producer Mark Burnett, and, oh yeah, a lot of content about Big Macs and McRib sandwiches. In other words, McDonald’s is giving people yet another reason to avoid its restaurants.
The project is being led by an L.A.-based company called ChannelPort that specializes in this sort of thing, and a spokesman for the company tells the Los Angeles Times that the point is “to catch and engage the customer, and then enhance their experience.” If there’s one thing McNuggets need, it’s enhancing!
McTV has already been tested at McDonald’s locations in San Diego and Los Angeles, and will soon be rolling out in 800 locations in Central and Southern California, eventually reaching 18 to 20 million people a month, and expanding also onto web and mobile platforms.
Thankfully, McDonald’s restaurants featuring the big flat-screen TVs will devote 30 percent of seating areas to “quiet zones,” where they promise diners won’t be able to see or hear the TVs. Other places you can go in order to avoid McTV: any restaurant that isn’t a McDonald’s.
