August 29th, 2007 11:00pm

p> Scott Jagow: These days, there's a cable channel for just about niche you can think of. The latest example: Plum TV. You can only get it in the most exclusive resort towns in America. Jill Barshay reports from the Hamptons.

Jill Barshay: Plum TV began as a local cable station in Nantucket. Tom Scott, the man behind Nantucket Nectars, bought the channel and renamed it for the plum-colored cap on his old lemonade bottles. He focused the programming almost exclusively on the local scene. Then he rolled out the channel in seven super-affluent resorts, including Aspen, Miami Beach and Martha's Vineyard.

Tom Scott: The morning show is, you're gonna see the head lifeguard, you're gonna see John Kerry.

Jill Barshay: Scott says the average income of his viewers is $600,000 a year. Cathy Rasenberger is a cable TV industry consultant. She says Scott made Plum TV a hit by targeting the elusive mega-rich audience. He's pulled in top notch sponsors like Porsche and American Express.

Cathy Rasenberger: Almost impossible for advertisers to reach that audience through traditional media. The reason a network like the golf network has been successful is that it delivers that very high income CEO. And that's what he's delivering.

Jill Barshay: But Rasenberger says Plum TV is almost more of a social networking site than a television network, a bit like Facebook for the rich and famous.

Rasenberger: I've witnessed it. People love being interviewed on Plum TV because they know they're actually being seen by their peers.

Jill Barshay: Luminaries like Bill Clinton:

Bill Clinton: Hillary and Chelsea were doing other things...

Jill Barshay: Writer Joyce Carol Oates:

Joyce Carol Oates: We don't necessarily begin writing typing...

Jill Barshay: And Donald Rumsfeld:

Donald Rumsfeld: When I came to Vail was in 1974 with President Ford...

Some critics have turned up their nose at the network, calling it Wayne's World for the rich. A group of locals, including Kate Spade and Jimmy Buffet, recently kicked in $20 million to help make Plum TV a bit plummier. In the Hamptons, I'm Jill Barshay for Marketplace.