SANTA MONICA—During its meeting on Tuesday, December 16, the Santa Monica City Council will hold a vote on an ordinance that will create a Digital Display District, which would allow companies to display digital billboards along the Third Street Promenade and Santa Monica Place.
If passed, this ordinance will allow 16 billboards to be displayed. In addition, the ordinance would allow 1,000 digital billboards to be displayed on buildings at the corners of major intersections, as well as on four additional locations on the facades of the Santa Monica Place shopping center.
This proposed ordinance requires that all digital displays constructed be arranged through deals with individual companies rather than through permits. The ordinance regulates the types of advertisements that can be displayed, the hours during which they can be displayed, and the brightness of the displays.
City officials estimate that the digital billboards would generate between $3.5 million and $7 million annually if the ordinance is passed. This money would come either from the minimum annual guarantees paid to the city by the companies that constructor the digital billboards or a 20 percent share of gross advertising revenues.
By Daniel Diquinzio