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Nasdaq lights up Broadway
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December 28, 1999: 6:51 p.m. ET
Market unveils massive Times Square video screen displaying financial news
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Revelers attending Times Square’s New Year’s Eve bash Friday night will find a whole new way to bide their time while waiting for the Waterford crystal ball to drop: Checking the value of their portfolios.
The Nasdaq Stock Market unveiled the world’s largest video screen in the heart of Times Square Tuesday evening, complete with state-of-the-art lighting technology, high-resolution graphics and a three-story, glass-enclosed broadcast studio attached to the screen’s base tower.
The eight-story, 120-foot wide screen -- which cost $37 million to construct -- at the corner of 43rd St. and Broadway encompasses roughly a quarter-acre in a strip New Yorkers refer to as the "Crossroads of the World,” because it attracts visitors from every part of the globe.
By comparison, Panasonic’s Astrovision screen in Times Square, which broadcasts NBC Television 24-hours a day, is roughly three stories high.
Nasdaq’s screen will display real-time financial news, global market information and advertisements to Times Square’s 1.5 million visitors a day.
Of course, Times Square is expected to house at least that many visitors for its New Year’s Eve celebration alone, presenting the perfect grand opening opportunity to the technology-laden Nasdaq market.
"More than ever before, people from all walks of life are interested in investing in the securities market,” said Frank Zarb, chairman and chief executive officer of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Nasdaq’s parent company, in a statement.
A Nasdaq official said the market expects to recoup the cost of the screen through advertising revenue and other fees. Nasdaq expects to announce its first advertisers shortly.
Several networks, including CNNfn, already have committed to doing market reports from the tower’s broadcast facilities, which overlook Times Square. 
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