Clear Channel seals phone boxes deal

by Sarah Crawley-Boevey Media Week 07-Aug-07, 10:10

LONDON - Clear Channel Outdoor has struck a deal to sell media on Spectrum Interactive's portfolio of phone boxes.

The sale rights, previously held by NWP Media, cover an undisclosed number of Spectrum's 8,000 payphones in city locations across the UK, the majority within the M25.
Clear Channel, which lost the 40,000-strong £75m BT payphone concession to JCDecaux last October, will market the sites under the Clear Channel Connect brand.

Derek Parkin, managing director of NWP Media, said: "In the past three years I've built NWP Media into a very successful, growing business, taking bookings from a range of serious advertisers. It's no surprise that a major operator such as Clear Channel should take an interest in this exciting niche sector of outdoor."
Mark Lewarne, chief executive of Spectrum, said the time was right to partner with Clear Channel "who have the infrastructure in place to exploit the value of the estate".
Clear Channel held the BT phone box contract for two years under its Adshel Connect division, but has now recouped some of the phone box market. Spectrum provides internet desks, WiFi hotspots and payphones across the UK and Germany and is the second largest operator of payphones in both countries, behind BT in the UK.