Mayor Will Try to Lower the Intensity of the Extreme Screen

The Mayor’s Office will ask Skate Land S.A. to reduce the intensity of the light that is projected from the gigantic screen at the end of Balboa Avenue above Extreme Planet, Panama America reports.

For months now, the 101 foot by almost 68 foot screen has been illuminating Panama City’s coastline and broadcasting commercials for advertisers like Dunkin Donuts and Bennigan’s.  The extreme screen also quickly became the talk of the town with its own and online petitions dedicated to hating it.

Among the drawbacks of the screen are the light that it projects for miles, the illumination it provides for neighboring high rise apartments, the distraction it poses to drivers along the Cinta Costera and the consumption of an incredible amount of wattage during times of electricity shortages.  The screen has been operating at 40% intensity since January and is turned off from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m., says the sign’s administrator, Lily Miller.

In somewhat related news, The New York Times, published a piece yesterday about the hazards of digital roadside billboards, which critics call “television on a stick” and “weapons of mass distraction.”

Extreme Screen - photo posted on Facebook group by Miguel