No love for digisignage
in Tinseltown

A Los Angeles assemblyman introduced a bill this week to place a moratorium on the construction of new digital advertising displays until 2012.

The moratorium is intended to allow time for safety reviews on the potential driving hazards of digital billboards to be completed, and for policymakers to review the results, writes the California Chronicle (via MediaBuyerPlanner).

The 2012 date should give policymakers plenty of time to make decisions. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials study is being released later this month, while a Federal Highway Administration study will release its second part at the end of 2009.

The bill also forbids the conversion of existing billboards to digital, including 877 signs already approved for conversion in LA as part of the World Wide Rush v. City of Los Angeles settlement.

Earlier this month, the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower-court ruling, upholding Los Angeles’s 2002 citywide billboard ban, arguing the ban on outdoor advertising does not violate a Metro Lights LLC's 1st Amendment right to free speech.

Though the decision will affect only the nine Western states that fall under the 9th Circuit's jurisdiction, it will have ramifications for municipal sign laws across the nation, as cities from as far away as New York have been waiting to see what the 9th Circuit would do, according to the Los Angeles Times.

A 2007 report found digital signage was considered more attention-catching and less "generally hated" by consumers. Riding that wave, the LA Times began breaking news with digital messages across 10 billboards.

By October 2008, digital out-of-home ad spend had tripled.