NBC Olympics, a division of the NBC Sports Group (CMCSA), has announced a partnership with Intersection that will bring exclusive content from the PyeongChang Games to “spaces where the American audience now consumes media”; throughout New York, Chicago and Philadelphia. Beginning tomorrow February 9th (and running through February 25th), NBC Olympics will produce custom content to keep urban residents up-to-date on the Winter Games. Intersection, operating at the forefront of the smart city revolution with products like LinkNYC (information/advertising kiosks that offer free wi-fi), will air morning highlights, medal counts and real-time alerts on “thousands of digital screens across our cities and transit hubs.”
Howie Long-Short: Intersection was founded in 2015, when Sidewalk Labs (GOOGL) acquired Control Group and Titan Outdoors and merged the companies. In November, Intersection closed on a $150 million venture round for the global expansion of its advertising supported Wi-Fi network (NYC and London were their first 2 cities). Graham Holdings Company (GHC, former owner of the Washington Post) led the round; Sidewalk Labs did not participate. On November 1st, GHC reported Q3 profits declined .4% YOY; despite a 6% increase in revenue. Struggles within their education (i.e. Kaplan, -3% to $376.8 million) and television segments (-10% to $101.3 million) offset the growth in their other businesses (+46% to $179.1 million).
Fan Marino: If you can catch a last-minute flight to PyeongChang, you can still get seats to the opening ceremony (unheard of, ALWAYS sells out). Of course, there are several reasons why; it’s outdoors, the temperature is projected to be in the 20s and tickets start at +/- $400.
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