McDonald’s will expand its entertainment activities in the US with a high-definition television channel. McTV will appear at nearly 800 restaurants in southern and central California by March with a perspective to grow across the country. 

Photo: www.latimes.com, by Liz O. Baylen

Test markets of Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Manhattan, Seattle and partially in Oklahoma will enjoy content from McDonald’s Channel content partners including Walt Disney Co’s ABC, BBC America and reality television producer Mark Burnett (‘Survivor’ and ‘The Apprentice’). Later more programs will be added to the list, according to LA Times.

Visitors will be able to watch exclusive content made up of short spots ranging in length from 90 seconds to 20 minutes. If they want to see longer versions of some spots they can access them via mobile devices or home computers using Wi-Fi. The channel will show less than eight minutes of advertising per hour.

Specific McDonalds’s programs include ‘The McDonald’s Achievers,’ profiles of local high school and college athletes; ‘Mighty Moms,’ about local mothers balancing families and careers in sports; and ‘Vimby’ (Video In My Backyard), created in a partnership with Burnett to cover local lifestyle news including fashion, art, music, action sports and nightlife. There might be more sports programs in future as the  Olympic Games are approaching and the fast food chain is its official restaurant.

This step is part of a broader digital-age strategy, which is aimed at speaking directly to customers. The channel will be spearheaded by ChannelPort Communications LLC, a Los Angeles-based company specializing in entertainment content, technology and brand management.

According to Leland Edmondson, founder of ChannelPort, the channel will be seen by about 18 million McDonald’s customers in California each month.