As reported by Ben Smith of Politico, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has purchased his own channel on the satellite TV provider Dish Network:
Channel 73 on the Dish Network is now The Obama Channel.
Obama’s media buying strategy has been marked by a willingness to work the angles and to try to pick up a few votes at the margins. The decision to go to everything from extensive radio buys to odd-hour infomercials reflects the fact that the campaign media buyers spend a lot of time thinking about how much persuasion any given dollar can buy, and given a very cheap format — late night cable channels that need filler, for instance — will settle for a thimblefull of persuasion.
To be honest, this is a great idea for a candidate who has the money to spend, because I’m sure a few folks who have the Dish Network are bound to flip to the Obama channel simply out of curiosity. Now just so it’s clear, Dish Network executives have already made it clear they offered both campaigns the opportunity to purchase a channel on Dish, but only the Obama campaign pursued the offer.
Great. Hopefully now I won’t have to turn the channels I watch so often.