Farmacia.TV network coming to Italian pharmacies

EXTON, Pa. — Scala announced the launch of Farmacia.TV, a thematic digital signage channel to be deployed in pharmacies across Italy. The channel was developed and managed by Scala Certified Partner M-Cube, an Italian company specialized in multimedia content broadcasting through the delivery of audio-video hardware, software and services.

Farmacia.TV is a thematic channel dedicated to pharmacies that will provide news to clients at the point of purchase. The project will be initially deployed in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region starting in November 2007 and is born from a collaboration agreement between M-Cube, located in Trieste, and Federfarma, the national association of pharmacies in Italy through its regional chapter.

"Federfarma had long searched for a medium to communicate news about pharmaceutical products and health messages to the public, such as informational and prevention campaigns orchestrated by the local and federal governments," said Leonardo Comelli, chief executive of M-Cube. "We are pleased to make Federfarma's desires a reality through the Farmacia.TV project, now in full process of implementation."

The content will be created and broadcasted by M-Cube and selected by Federfarma for display via screens present in all participating pharmacies. By using self-managed advertising space, each individual pharmacy can easily decide on which messages to display and which advertising information to convey to its clients.

The initial phase of the Farmacia.TV project will encompass 50 pharmacies in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region before the end of 2007, with a total of 200 expected to participate by mid-2008. The long-term objective of Farmacia.TV is to bring its services and benefits to more than 4,000 pharmacies throughout Italy.