Starbucks is partnering with Yahoo to launch the Starbucks Digital Network, a package of Web content available only in Starbucks stores over its free Wi-Fi networks.
The network launches Wednesday and will be available in the retailer's 6,800 U.S. stores. It includes six channels: news, entertainment, wellness, business and careers, My Neighborhood, and Starbucks. Other content partners include Bookish Reading Club, Foursquare, Good, LinkedIn, New Word City, and The Weather Channel.
Users can access the network on their smartphones, laptops, or tablets by logging into Starbucks Wi-Fi.
"The team at Starbucks wanted to enhance the time our customers spend in our stores, so we had a vision to create something new, localized, unexpected… and online," Adam Brotman, vice president of Starbucks Digital Ventures, wrote in a blog post. "The Starbucks Digital Network was developed to provide customers instant access to a collection of hand-picked premium news, entertainment and lifestyle content along with free downloads, local insights and events from nearly 20 different content providers including iTunes, Nick Jr. Boost, Rodale, WSJ.com and Yahoo! It's all free and only available at Starbucks."
The news section will include content from The New York Times, WSJ.com, and USA Today. Yahoo will also provide stories from Yahoo News and Yahoo Sports, while Good will serve up infographics.
On the entertainment front, Starbucks will extend its Starbucks/iTunes Pick of the Week card program to its Digital Network, which is "supporting the discovery of new music," Starbucks said. During launch week, Starbucks will offer exclusive free access to two songs and a video from new band Fistful of Mercy, featuring Ben Harper and Dhani Harrison.
The company will also jump into the e-reading space with the help of Bookish Reading Club, which will provide access to a new e-book each week from publishers like Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Penguin Group (USA), and Simon & Schuster. An HTML5 reader from LibreDigital, powered by SkyShelf, will let customers read the e-books in the browser. This week, Starbucks will offer a snippet from "Rescue," a new novel from Anita Shreve, which hits stores on Nov. 30.
Starbucks will also offer content from Nick Jr. and SnagFilms, which will initially offer educational children's programming and music documentaries, respectively. As part of the launch, Starbucks will offer a clip from the upcoming movie "Waiting for Superman," a documentary that examines the U.S. educational system. Every customer who buys a ticket for the film will get a $15 DonorsChoose.org credit they can donate to a classroom project of their choice.
DonorsChoose.org is also part of the "My Neighborhood" section. Users who sign in via Foursquare can donate to a school in the area. Patch will also contribute community-specific stories, while Zagat will serve up ratings and reviews for nearby restaurants.
Rodale, meanwhile, will offer articles, recipes, and videos from Rodale.com, Men's Health, Women's Health, Runner's World, Bicycling, Prevention, Organic Gardening and Eat This, Not That. On business and careers, LinkedIn will contribute a business-focused blog while Yahoo will add stories and data from Yahoo Finance.
Starbucks has, of course, added its own channel, which will let users connect to Twitter and Facebook and access all things Starbucks, like rewards, card information, and a coffee blog.
On the back end, Yahoo will power search across the Starbucks Digital Network. Starbucks said it selected Yahoo to build, manage, and host the network "because of Yahoo's 15 years of experience and deep expertise in developing compelling digital platforms."