December 21st, 2006 12:00am

By EMILY STEEL

When music executive Jason Flom stays at his vacation house in Aspen, he
likes to check out a morning TV show about local happenings and weather in
the upscale ski town. The show airs on a local station that is part of a
fast-growing network called Plum TV designed for tony vacation spots.

Mr. Flom, chairman of EMI Group's Virgin Records U.S., liked the TV show so
much that he has joined several other big names -- including former Viacom
Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tom Freston, former AOL President and Chief
Operating Officer Robert Pittman's investment firm, Starwood Capital CEO
Barry Sternlicht, Kraft Group CEO Robert Kraft and singer Jimmy Buffett --
investing a total of $20 million into the network as it charts an expansion.

At ESPN's Winter X Games in Aspen: Sari Tuschman, a host of The MorningNoon
& Night Show, and Torre, vice mayor of Aspen and also a host.
Plum TV broadcasts on six TV stations in some of the most exclusive resort
areas in the U.S.: Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, the
Hamptons in New York and the Colorado ski towns of Vail, Aspen and
Telluride. Soon to come: stations in Sun Valley, Idaho, and Miami Beach,
Fla.

As broadcast television struggles with competition from cable channels and
the Web, investing in local TV stations might seem counterintuitive for some
bright business names. But Plum TV is trying an approach different from the
traditional TV network by narrowly targeting the very rich on vacation.

Instead of scheduling its best shows in the evening to draw people as they
relax after work, Plum TV expects its audience of wealthy vacationers to
watch in the early morning and the late afternoon -- before and after their
days on the beach or the ski slopes. The programming is a mix of local
events -- figuring that viewers want to know what is going on in town -- and
culture, politics, art, business and sports.

"Everyone else's prime time is not our prime time," says Plum TV's founder
and CEO, Tom Scott, who co-founded beverage brand Nantucket Nectars,
acquired by Cadbury-Schweppes in 2002 for about $100 million.

Each station features a locally produced "TheMorningNoon&Night Show,"
broadcast live at 8 a.m. from the center of town five days a week and
featuring local politics, sports, weather and traffic. The show repeats at 1
p.m. and 8 p.m. Some other original shows air on all Plum TV stations, such
as "Open Exchange," featuring Loews Corp. Co-Chairman Jonathan Tisch
interviewing CEOs, and "DocStock," which profiles documentaries still in
production and interviews with filmmakers.

For advertisers, the network offers a rare opportunity to reach a very
upscale TV audience. Publications targeting the rich -- such as Hearst
Corp.'s Town & Country, CurtCo Media's Robb Report and local magazines in
wealthy communities -- have long captured advertiser dollars. Broadcast TV
has traditionally gone after a much broader audience than the very rich.

"It is an environment...where these affluents are relaxed and perhaps more
receptive to advertising," says Guy McCarter, director of entertainment
marketing for Omnicom Group's OMD, who bought advertising on Plum TV for the
Visa Signature premium credit card. "The content of the programming is not
necessarily about the most expensive things to buy, but it is about what is
going on in the community and connects with the viewer on a local basis."

Investors include Andy Spade, co-founder with his wife of the Kate Spade
fashion brand and a former advertising executive. Even before he put money
into the network, Mr. Spade said he had been a viewer, tuning into Plum TV's
morning show when he stays at his Southampton, N.Y., beach house. His
fashion company had also been an advertiser. "We were looking to do
something new and smart. The markets obviously are in the right places for
us."

Like bigger TV networks, Plum TV is working with advertisers to integrate
marketing messages into programming. Audi used Plum to promote the launch of
its Audi Q7 sport-utility vehicle this past summer. The vehicle was featured
in a series of 90-second segments about destinations in the Hamptons,
Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket that aired on the network.

Plum TV isn't limiting itself to broadcast TV. It is available on the Web
through Google Video and AOL Video. Mr. Scott said some of the new
investment would be used to fuel more growth in the digital market, adding
more multimedia elements to the stations' Web sites.