A wider lens

If you've ever stayed in a hotel in Naples or Marco Island, chances are you've watched Paradise Coast TV.

It's the 24-hour channel that shows advertising from local restaurants, shops and other businesses that cater to visitors. Now, tourists who visit Sarasota can start watching it in their rooms, too. “We've already got 13 hotels installed,” says Mark Romary, the partner in the venture who is expanding the firm's reach to Sarasota.

Already, the Bonita Springs-based company provides advertising and short feature programs on a channel inside 37 hotels totaling 4,500 rooms from Marco Island to Naples and Bonita Springs. “The dream is to have it from Tampa-St. Pete to Marco Island,” says Larry Lancit, who started the company with his wife, Cecily Lancit, in 2010.