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Ricardo Bilton & Gloria Sin

Starbucks planning a 'Digital Network' with five specialized channels

By | August 12, 2010, 8:56am PDT

Summary: Free Wi-Fi simply isn’t enough these days, or at least not for Starbucks. The coffee chain giant is in the midst of developing a “Digital Network” with “premium” content to debut this fall.

Free Wi-Fi simply isn’t enough these days, or at least not for Starbucks. The coffee chain giant is in the midst of developing a “Digital Network with “premium” content to debut this fall.

Just like the Wi-Fi service, the Starbucks Digital Network will be free of charge to customers when it debuts at company-owned locations nationwide in a few months.

The Network will be comprised of five channels: News, Entertainment, Wellness, Business & Careers and My Neighborhood. News options include USA TodayThe New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Apple will be handing out free songs via iTunes, and publisher Rodale appears to be the cornerstone of the Health department with content from its various publications including Runner’s World andWomen’s Health.

For those just running in and out of Starbucks for a cup of coffee in the morning, this might not matter as much. For other Starbucks patrons, it’s will be interesting to try out, especially since it’s free! Although it could turn out to be another distraction for anyone trying to get work done on their laptops.

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Rachel King is a staff writer for ZDNet based in San Francisco.

Disclosure

Rachel King

Rachel King has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted in this blog.

Biography

Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for CBS Interactive in San Francisco. Before serving as a contributing editor at ZDNet in New York City for two years, she previously worked for The Business Insider, FastCompany.com, CNN's San Francisco bureau and the U.S. Department of State. Rachel has also written for MainStreet.com, Irish America Magazine and the New York Daily News, among others. Rachel has a B.A. in Mass Communications and History from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, where she served as art director for the student magazine, Plated.

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Is There Going To Be An Author's Network?
cyberslammer 12th Aug 2010
So people can sit and write their books and talk about what great writers they are going to be someday?

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