By Martha Woodward
Community Television of Knoxville, often called CTV, provides many services and opportunities for our citizens. Each day, thousands enjoy watching the City Council meetings, the County Commission meetings and other news worthy events, along with weekly programming. CTV has also begun “streaming” these meetings which means that, if you missed it, you can go on-line and watch the program on archives.
Once a year, Community Television holds a Holiday Auction as a fund-raising event. The money that is earned by the auction is used to purchase and update equipment. Although this year’s event will occur on December 13 and l4, preparations are being made daily. Due to the many hours required to produce an event of this size, CTV is asking for your help now, and by helping them, you will receive benefits for your businesses and organizations.
How Can You Help? Donate items which can be sold during the two day auction.
Call Kevin Jeske [Director of Development] at (865) 215-4316 for further details.
Once you have made the donation, CTV will begin promoting your business or organization. The level of that promotion is done on a sliding scale ranging at the beginning of items valued at $40 going upwards to items valued in the thousands. The types of promotions may be: Web site pre-auction promotion; TV preview video; live “on air” TV host promotion; TV calendar promotion, Web site slide show, and more.
CTV reaches a viewing audience of more than 100,000 households throughout Knox County. The Web site reaches out to the entire world. With various levels of giving, based on a uniform scale, you can take advantage of any (or all) of the options.
How The Auction Works
From 1 until 9 p.m. on both December 13, and 14, 2008, each hour of the auction, a different selection of gift items will be showcased on several auction boards.
The retail value of each item is posted along with an item identification number. Viewers must refer to this number when they place a bid.
From home, viewers call in and place their bids. The first time they place a bid, they are given their own personal Quick Bid Number. This number helps to ensure that all future bids are updated as efficiently as possible.
During each hour, our TV hosts continue to showcase the individual gift items being offered.
Throughout each hour, telephone operators continue to take new bids and updated bids appear on a scroll at the bottom of the screen.
Callers are only allowed to bid one time on any specific item during each call.
Since each item is only offered for a limited time, viewers are discouraged from waiting until the last minute to place their maximum bid. Doing so increases the risk that they will be outbid at the last minute when the phone lines are jammed.
Viewers who are interested in “looking ahead” to see what will be offered each hour, can do so by logging on to the Web site at www.CTVknox.org <http://www.ctvknox.org/> Here, they will find the complete collection of items listed in the order they will be showcased.
Winners will NOT be announced on the air. Instead, winners will receive an official winner’s notification phone call during the hour after each auction board has closed.
Winners will be expected to pick up their gifts at CTV on the following Tuesday or Wednesday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
New for 2008 Any item which is donated before July 1st will be showcased on a slide show on the Web site from the date of the donation until the day before the auction. This means your organization or business may receive tons and tons of free ad time.
Remember: Donations must be worth at least $40. (Items not reaching the value requirement can be bundled, or packaged in gift baskets.)
