Back in August, it was noted satellite provider DISH, copying Half.com’s renaming of Halfway, Oregon and fifties radio show Truth or Consequences’ renaming of Hot Springs, New Mexico, was on the prowl for a town that would rename itself DISH. Yesterday, it was announced Dish had finally found a town desperate enough for the money to take the company up on its offer. The 373 residents of Clark, Texas have agreed to rename their town DISH, Texas in exchange for $440,477 and ten years worth of free basic satellite service. As Sploid notes, “In a few years, when DISH Network has been consumed by some other satellite/entertainment monster, the children of DISH may wonder why their town has such a stupid name.”
Currently, these efforts are limited to stealth efforts with small towns simply for their press value. With the continued proliferation of advertising into every conceivable corner of life, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Microsoft, five years down the road facing defeat by Google, might approach a city the size of, say Boston, and offer up a few million or billion for naming rights.
