The new venture will sell commercial time on screens to be placed at or near entrances, food courts, escalators and corridors of Simon malls across the country. A network has been tested at Roosevelt Field Mall (Garden City, N.Y.) since 2004, carrying programs that are being sponsored for the test by brands such as Cingular Wireless, Coca-Cola, Garnier, Nintendo and Visa, and such retailers as Aeropostale, E.B. Games, Gap, PacSun and Subway. The Coca-Cola Co. (Atlanta) has already agreed to become a regular sponsor of OnSpot.

The content on the OnSpot screens will run in eight-minute loops. Four minutes will be devoted to news and features about fashion, entertainment and lifestyle. The remaining four minutes will be commercials.

The screens are to be in two sizes: 50-inch and 126-inch diagonal screens. The network will initially be installed in 17 Simon properties in the Chicago, Los Angeles and New York markets. Then it will be rolled out to 33 malls in Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Seattle, Miami, Orlando and Tampa.

For a great deal more information about the possibilities of in-store digital media, plan to attend the Digital Retailing Expo next week at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosedale, Ill.