LOCALS INVITED TO SEND FREE VIDEO EMAILS TO OUR TROOPS OVERSEAS AND TO LOVED ONES ACROSS THE COUNTRY

Palm Desert — Messages from Home from Time Warner Cable is connecting families and friends during the holiday season. This December 10th and 11th, the public is invited to send a free video email message to our troops overseas, or to family and friends anywhere in the world. In addition, residents will have an opportunity to make free long distance phone calls to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada at no cost.

The December weekend is an opportunity for families to literally see each other without being together in person. For military families, who can be separated for long months at a time, it’s a chance for soldiers to see and hear their loved ones talking to them in person via computer.

Dessi Ochoa, General Manager for Time Warner Cable, Desert Cities is proud to use her company’s technology to bring people together: “Family members who have loved ones fighting overseas can send a personalized video email message to their husbands, wives, sons, daughters, brothers or sisters,” she comments. “As sentimental as it sounds, it just might be the best gift they receive all year.”

While the campaign is ideal for reaching out to family and friends serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, everyone is invited to send a free video email message to whomever they like, wherever they may live, be it Boston, Mexico City, or Timbuktu.

The first event will be held at the Circuit City store on Highway 111 in La Quinta on Saturday, December 10. The second event takes place inside the Palm Desert Westfield Shopping town, Sunday, December 11, adjacent to the food court. Both events begin at 12:00 noon and will last until 6:00 pm.

Video emailers will have up to 90 seconds to create their audio/visual email message. To minimize congestion, there will be three laptop computers on site, each equipped with a video web camera. Each video email message will be stored, processed and sent using Road Runner video messaging technology, a feature which comes standard with Road Runner High Speed Data service. Recipients will be able to receive and access incoming video emails regardless of which Internet Service Provider they use. A single person may send his or her video email to multiple email addresses, but will be limited to one video email per event site.

Those wanting to take advantage of a free long distance phone call will be using Time Warner Cable’s new digital phone service. Calls are limited to the U.S. and Canada and will be restricted to 10 minutes per call. Limit one call per person, per event site.

Time Warner Cable (www.twcdesertcities.com) serves more than 145,000 customers in the Coachella Valley and Banning Pass area, and is part of Time Warner Cable, a division of Time Warner, Inc., which owns and operates the world’s most advanced and best-clustered cable television operations, serving nearly 11 million households in the United States. More than 800 local employees serve approximately 350,000 households in the San Diego Time Warner Cable Division, which includes systems in Desert Cities, San Diego, and Barstow areas. Time Warner Cable offers cable television, high-speed online and digital telephone services over a fiber-rich broadband network.