Birmingham company programs gas pump TVs across America

If you've ever wondered where they come from, it's a sleek glass-fronted office on Old Woodward in Birmingham, US. David Leider, the CEO of Gas Station TV says it is a 24/7 operation, feeding custom programs to eight thousand TV's, atop pumps at more than 1,100 gas stations.

He says he and a few other advertising executives came up with the idea about 4 1/2 years ago. They were trying to figure out some place where they could get a customer's undivided attention for a couple minutes. The gas pump was the place.

Studies show the average customer spends five minutes at the pump, so each GSTV program lasts exactly 4 1/2 minutes to insure each customer sees the whole thing. They may come in at the end, or in the middle, Leider says, but they will see the whole program of news, weather, sports and, of course, advertising.

The guys in this control room are watching to make sure each chain of stations gets its own personalized program, sent by Internet to a satellite—then beamed to the more than 11-hundred stations.

The company employes 35 people nationwide and expects to continue growing rapidly in coming years.