Wealth TV
by George Winslow -- Multichannel News, 2/10/2008 7:00:00 PM
Launching a new network is never easy, but it has been particularly difficult in recent years for independent programmers to convince major operators to provide carriage. So, when Wealth TV’s owners began developing plans for a new luxury lifestyle network, they saw HD as a way to stand out from the crowd.
“If you are an independent, you have to have a unique concept and programming to differentiate yourself,” Wealth TV president Charles Herring said.
But that means a significant investment in new facilities and programming. “At the time, there wasn’t much HD programming available, so we made the decision to build our own facility in San Diego,” Herring said.
Thanks to that multimillion dollar investment, Wealth TV is able to produce about 30% to 40% of its content. All shows are offered to operators in an HD and downconverted standard-definition feed.
To boost its appeal with operators, Wealth TV also launched an HD on-demand offering in 2006. Verizon Communications and Charter Communications added the VOD offering in the fourth quarter of 2007.
The network is also working with enseQuence to add interactive elements to the HD programming.
But some longstanding issues from the SD world continue to plague Wealth TV. While the company doesn’t release distribution figures, Herring said it is in less than 10 million homes.
“Indies have a tough time with distribution because we can’t leverage other programming,” he admitted.
The network has not been able to cut deals with Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Cox Communications or the owners of In Demand Networks.
Last fall, Wealth TV filed a carriage access complaint with the Federal Communications Commission against Time Warner, claiming it gave preferential treatment to Mojo HD, a network it partly owned.
Still, Wealth continues to invest heavily in new programming “that allows viewers to live the American dream,” Herring said; and it regularly sends crews to exotic locales. “Recently, we had a crew in Dubai to cover a yacht show,” he said.
While the channel isn’t rated, it seems to be reaching its target audience. In-house research shows that 55% of its audience makes over $75,000 per year and in systems where the VOD offering is available, its fare ranks in the top 20, according to Herring.
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