Thursday, September 19, 2013

Verizon Center Installs Electronic Billboards

Black framing for new video billboards. Smaller video boards can be seen below ("Tickets Available").
The semi-controversial electronic video billboards are now being added to the facade of Verizon Center . The most prominent additions are two 1,035 square foot video boards at the corner of 7th and F Streets NW. Two identical billboards will wrap the corner above the Metro entrance. 

More billboards will be installed along the 7th Street side of Verizon Center (near G Street, where the old vinyl ads were previously). There are already smaller, live video billboards in place at the top of the Metro escalators at F Street and near the Chinatown Arch. They currently display promotional ads for Verizon Center concerts, ads for upcoming sporting events, and third party media.

The larger billboards were the cause of much consternation, with this 2010 article asking "Is D.C. getting its own Times Square?" (Whenever a headline asks a question that way, the answer is always NO.) And Ted Leonsis --majority owner of the Verizon Center, Wizards, Mystics and Capitals-- took to his own blog to make a case for the billboards.

I'll follow up with a few more photos when the work is complete.