Barack Obama: In Theaters January 20th

The inauguration of Barack Obama next Tuesday will be seen in 27 theaters throughout the country, thanks to an agreement between Screenvision and MSNBC. Screenvision has done this sort of thing in the past, showing broadcasts of operas, baseball games, and other live events in theaters. The Hollywood Reporter has details of the deal, which Screenvision's Darryl Schaffer says could have landed the inauguration on as many as 200 theaters in the U.S., but NBC was looking to work with smaller numbers. It makes sense for MSNBC to be on the front end of this, since it was positioned as the anti-GOP channel during the campaign, and as cable's fastest growing outlet in 2008, the network's Phil Griffin says unique events like this help position MSNBC to people who haven't been exposed to it yet. "We want to reach people we've never reached before," Griffin said Monday. "We're going to do numerous things like that to get our name out there. Ubiquity is the name of the game in 2009." Free tickets for the big screen inaugural are being handed out through MSNBC.com, and through a collaboration with 11 exhibitor partners in 21 cities, Screenvision and MSNBC hope to increase traffic in theaters on the middle of a Tuesday, not usually prime moviegoing hours. Obviously, the inauguration will be MSNBC's coverage, meaning Keith Olbermann's head will look that much larger. The move follows MTV's announcement that it will air something called The Youth Inaugural Ball, which will expose the event and politics to its primarily younger audience.