Charter, Cox, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Comcast and Bright House Networks are collaboratively working on a new advertising system they've dubbed "Canoe." The effort, designed to help keep billions in ad dollars from flowing to the Google's of the world, will attempt to make TV advertising more interactive and user (or neighborhood) specific. While the program isn't expected to really take off until the first quarter of next year, customers tell us they're already getting e-mails concerning Canoe pilot programs.

One of Comcast's initial trials will be in the Baltimore market, where they're e-mailing customers about "Addressable Advertising," which will "increase the relevancy of the TV advertising seen by our Digital Cable subscribers." According to Comcast, the data used to determine which ads users will see is based on "standard, widely available demographic information":Comcast is including a FAQ with the e-mail to customers, saying this new system will prove useful to customers "because time spent watching ads will be more meaningful." Customers can opt-out via this website, by mail or by phone. According to Comcast, the ad system will initially target Comcast customers by neighborhood demographics (Comcast cites "families", but income and other criteria will obviously be used):Ultimately, the goal is to shift this advertising from a neighborhood to house and potentially even individual preference level. According to Ad Week, that's a year or two out. A goal for Canoe is also to sell set top data "from set-top boxes for sale to programmers and marketers," according to the trade mag.

According to Comcast's e-mail to customers, the Baltimore trial will run about six months and impact only 2% of ads shown on just a few digital TV channels.