VIDEO PARTNERS NAMES MCMILLEN EXECUTIVE VP

DAN ALAIMO

DRAPER, Utah -- Ronald E. McMillen has been named executive vice president and general manager of Video Partners here, a new company providing rental and sell-through programs on a racked basis to nontraditional video retailers, including supermarkets

McMillen was vice president of sales for the Western region of Sight & Sound Distributors, St. Louis, where he was responsible for the supermarket program.

Video Partners was formed by Family Media Group and its parent, National Media Management, both based here, according to FMG president Richard Haskell. FMG supplies "family appropriate" videos to about 1,900 supermarkets nationwide.

Video Partners will offer a full-service, turnkey video-rental and sell-through program to supermarkets, convenience stores, truck stops, department stores, bookstores and music stores, said Haskell.

"We find many of these businesses want to move to the next level of expertise," he said. "Many of them are becoming more committed to video as a category and are dedicating more labor, space and signage to make it more visible. They want a distributor-racker partner who will help them with category management."

The company will add salespeople and 400 to 800 retail outlets in the next six to 12 months, he said. Video Partners' program will include theme shippers, Top 10 fixtures and permanent computerized planogram placements for year-round business.