Retirement Living TV

World Screen Weekly, April 12, 2007

COUNTRY: U.S.

LAUNCH DATE: September 5, 2006

OWNERSHIP: Privately owned by the Erickson family

DISTRIBUTION: 26 million subscribers throughout the U.S. on Cn8 (Comcast) in the Mid-Atlantic & New England regions; Comcast Entertainment Television (CET) in Denver, Colorado; and DIRECTV. The Denver division of Comcast also provides RLTV content on its video-on-demand system.

DESCRIPTION: Retirement Living TV was founded by John Erickson, who is also the founder, CEO and chairman of Erickson Retirement Communities in Baltimore, Maryland. The channel is targeted at the 55 and over demographic and aims to be the new voice of a generation that is under-served by the media industry. Retirement Living TV is only broadcast during the day.

FOUNDER AND CEO: John Erickson

PRESIDENT: Brad Knight

VP, PROGRAMMING & PRODUCTION: Elliot Jacobson

PROGRAMMING STRATEGY: According to Elliot Jacobson, the VP of programming and production at Retirement Living TV, the goal of the network is to provide an outlet to a large demographic that has not been well-represented in the media or by the media—seniors. Jacobson says that much of the network’s programming “has the underlying goal of inspiring people and galvanizing people, to re-engage with society [and] to understand their value to society as folks with a lot of wisdom to share.”

Sixty percent of the channel’s schedule is produced in-house, with 20 percent commissioned and 20 percent acquired. The shows run the gamut from “informational edutainment” to more straight-forward lifestyle programming, and the network does not shy from addressing a “broad spectrum of issues” that range from sex over 60 to medical marijuana use among seniors in the U.S., says Jacobson.

Healthline, an original series about medical conditions, is the network’s top-rated show. Other original shows on the network include Encore with John Palmer, a one-on-one half-hour interview show hosted by former NBC News White House correspondent John Palmer with celebrated men and women over 55 that have had significant public careers; The Prudent Advisor, a consumer finance show underwritten by Prudential; and The Art of Living, which celebrates ordinary people from around the country who are living extraordinary lives doing what they love to do.

“The goal of our network is to change the perception of aging—it’s both the outward perception of aging, like how you and I may view someone over 55, as well as how they view themselves,” says Jacobson.

While Jacobson acknowledges that the audience for Retirement Living TV may be similar to the type of audience that a network like PBS attracts, there will always be a slant to its shows that specifically targets seniors. For example, Jacobson notes that if the channel did a show on the great museums of Europe, it would provide facts about the museum and note where a specific painting was located, but it would also supplement this with helpful information about the location of a ramp in the museum, and how many headsets are available for the hearing-impaired. “We’re providing more than just entertainment,” says Jacobson. “We want this to be content that has some use.”

One of Retirement Living TV’s major advantages is that it can leverage the Erickson Foundation, which was founded by John Erickson and his wife Nancy, and focuses on senior research, health and mental issues.The network also has the RLTV Aging Research Team, an in-house team of seven that conducts comprehensive aging research to develop television programming. Careful attention is also paid to details such as color contrast, audio levels, and how much text there is on the TV screen. “What we have is a very robust academic backing to our approach,” says Jacobson. “This is not just about content but is about how we produce our shows.”

At MIPTV, Jacobson’s main goal is to raise the profile of the network and seek out co-production opportunities. Acquisitions are also a priority at the market.

WHAT’S NEW: The channel will premiere two new live talk shows, a D.C.-based morning show with the working title NOW launching in the beginning of June, and a live Los Angeles-based afternoon show with the working title Living Live! scheduled for premiere in the middle of April.

This summer, the network’s programming slate will also include a larger variety of new lifestyle programs and leisure activity programs.

In addition to new episodes of The Art of Living, Heathline, Encore with John Palmer and The Prudent Advisor, the network will also air a slew of new one-off specials tied to The Art of Living series, including a NASCAR special entitled Yellow Mountain Road: The James Hylton Story (working title), the Habitat for Humanity special Care-A-Vanners Giving Back, and RV Style, about the RV Convention in Quartzite, AZ.

WEBSITE: www.rl.tv

—By Irene Lew