Lamar takes city to court over digital billboard ban
Lamar Advertising is taking the city of Knoxville, Tennessee to court after a long-running dispute over conversion of two billboard sites to digital.
The resumption of the court case originally filed in 2006 is the latest battle in a conflict between many outdoor-advertising firms and U.S. local authorities over the move to digital technology.
In Knoxville (pictured), the city council – which in September rejected Lamar’s final appeal against its decision – says that digitising the sites amounts to the erection of new billboards, in violation of a 2001 freeze, and that the firm does not have the required permits.
The city also says that digital billboards are comparable to electronic messaging centres such as time-and-temperature signs. Under that interpretation, Lamar’s billboards would be in inappropriate places – because they are not located at the sites they are advertising. At 672 square feet apiece, they are also much larger than the permitted size for electronic messaging centres.
Lamar, however, argues that digitisation merely involves the upgrading of existing billboard sites, and therefore doesn’t breach regulations. It also says that the city’s moratorium on new advertising signage is a restraint of speech in violation of the U.S. constitution.
www.lamar.com
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