Arch Madness: McDonald's New M Channel Could Show Area Sports Highlights

McDonald’s is launching a “custom-made M Channel” in 700 of its restaurants, and the channel's aim “is to offer exclusive content to entertain customers,” according to Lynn Elber of the AP. ChannelPort Communications Founder Lee Edmondson, who has “spent more than eight years developing the concept for McDonald’s,” said that the M Channel is “akin to a broadcast network with its own news, entertainment and sportscasts localized for cities and even neighborhoods.” He said that the channel's goal is “to target different audiences at different times of day and be so area-specific that a restaurant could show high school football game highlights to hometown fans.” Edmondson said that M Channel “could expand to the roughly 14,000 McDonald's nationwide within 18 months of getting the ‘go’ from the company and franchisees” (AP, 9/26).