Body in Balance

World Screen Weekly, August 7, 2008

COUNTRIES: Germany, U.K., Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Poland and Serbia

LAUNCH DATE: 2005

DISTRIBUTION: 12 million homes

DESCRIPTION: Body in Balance is a healthy living lifestyle channel dedicated to providing instructional and informative programming on yoga, pilates, Qigong, meditation and other techniques for staying fit and living well.

MANAGING DIRECTOR: Greg Roselli

HEAD, PROGRAMMING: Anna Lawrence

HEAD, OPERATIONS: John Hall

PROGRAMMING STRATEGY: As people have become more health conscious, the Body in Balance (BiB) channel has carved a niche for itself as a destination for healthy lifestyle programming. “We want to give people the opportunity to live a healthy and balanced lifestyle without having the expense of going to a gym or paying for expensive retreats,” says Anna Lawrence, the head of programming for the network. “We hope to make yoga and wellbeing accessible to everyone in the convenience of their own homes.”

The channel’s daily schedule—structured with meditation in the morning, yoga and pilates in the afternoon and documentary and lifestyle programming in the evening—provides different types of instruction for students of various skill levels. Professionally trained yoga instructors such as Mark Whitwell, who has taught for more than 20 years, and Claire Missingham, whose clients include Natalie Imbruglia, Minnie Driver and members of the English National Ballet, host programs on the channel.

“These people are the new rock stars—the Shiva Reas, the Duncan Wongs, the Maya Fienneses,” says managing director Greg Roselli. “They all need an outlet, an outlet for promotion and marketing. We are to yoga what MTV was to the rock ‘n’ roll world in 1981.”

Since BiB’s 2005 launch in Germany, the channel has expanded to other markets including the U.K., Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Poland and Serbia. Broadcast from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the U.K. and 24 hours in other parts of Europe, the channel has received positive feedback from its viewership, Roselli notes. “People are saying ‘I’m a single mother and this has been really great for me. We love your channel. It has helped me diversify my yoga classes.’ We’ve had an incredible response.”

In addition to the channel and its website, BiB has recently launched a mobile application that sends users a daily mantra and a thought for the day. The channel’s success also has translated into merchandising opportunities for BiB and the instructors who host programs. For example, DVD product sales have tripled in the last month for the instructors, Roselli notes.

WHAT’S NEW: BiB is looking to expand its original productions from 30 percent of its programming to 60 percent and add in more lifestyle shows. “Currently our schedule contains mostly instructional exercise-based programming,” Lawrence notes. “However, in the future the channel will offer much broader lifestyle programming, including diet and nutrition, travel and spa information and general wellbeing advice.”

New course-oriented series for yoga, meditation and pilates are already in production for the channel’s fall schedule. “But we are still looking to license the TV and DVD rights for Europe to healthy eating and lifestyle formatted series,” Roselli says. BiB also is planning more interactive, live programming to engage its viewers and build a community.

WEBSITE: www.bodyinbalance.tv

—By Jackie Stewart