Programs run on a two-hour loop with commercials for store products intermingled with public-service announcements and clips from The Nashville Network and ESPN. It's a good fit for Advance Auto's target customers: men from age 18 to 54.

In a typical store, three televisions are mounted over the parts counter, including one facing the register line. Larger locations may have additional sets mounted from the ceiling in the center of the store. The televisions operate automatically and the volumes are preset.

The success of similar in-store networks at Blockbuster Video stores and Planet Hollywood restaurants were the inspiration for the idea, says Chad Tilley, executive vice president and general manager of Advance Auto. Five hundred Advance Auto stores were picking up the satellite signal at the end of July, and all 1,700 stores will be networked by early 2000.

While Tilley admits that the project will cost millions of dollars, he expects to see a nice return on the investment. Advance Auto has tested the idea extensively in stores since January 1998, including trials in Roanoke and Norfolk. According to Tilley, the test marketing revealed that customers stayed longer in the stores with televisions, resulting in greater average sales.

In addition to enticing customers, Advance Auto plans to use the television network for employee training in off-hours and as an information outlet for the chain's 24,000 employees in 38 states. "More and more we've become auditory and visual learners, as opposed to reading things," Tilley explains. "Even if customers don't stop and watch the television, they'll hear it."

Tilley says Advance Auto has the technology to customize programming in different regions. That doesn't mean you'll get "Miami Vice" in Florida and "Mary Tyler Moore" in Minnesota. Rather, in the winter, Minneapolis customers might see ads for antifreeze, while Miami customers might get car wax commercials.

Of course, the tests also revealed some new concerns the company hadn't anticipated. "We found that customers in line at the counter watched the TV while the customer in front of them was being waited on," Tilley says. "In some cases we had to prod the customers ... because they were watching a certain action clip, like a wreck or something, and they didn't want to move up."