NBC Digital Health Network Expands Distribution

Video Now Available On Cell Phones, Online

By Larry Barrett -- Multichannel News, 7/23/2008 1:13:00 PM

The NBC Digital Health Network Wednesday announced it has added four new distribution partners for its health video content, giving viewers an opportunity to access information online, from their cell phones and in more than 30 million digital cable households.

Launched in May, the NBC Digital Health Network also announced that The Patient Channel and The Newborn Channel—a pair of in-hospital networks—have joined the network.

The new multiplatform partners include:

-- Wellness Wireless, which distributes rich content on cell phones through personalized health and wellness applications developed by healthcare professionals, will integrate video from the NBC Digital Health to promote healthy living through mobile interactivity.

-- National Cable Communications (NCC), the national advertising firm jointly owned by MSOs Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable. NCC is leading the launch of MyLife on Demand, a free video-on-demand consumer health and wellness channel set to debut in November in over 30 million digital cable homes. MyLife will feature content from the NBC Digital Health Network across a variety of subjects including wellness education, diet, fitness, and vision care.

-- eTAGZ, a digital media marketing company that owns the patent on the process of attaching digital media to products at retail, will feature NBC Digital Health content focused on cold and flu season and attach it to 1 million packages of cough drops exclusively sold at Rite Aid Pharmacies nationwide.

-- Family Marketing, a leading interactive direct marketing agency that provides comprehensive information on pregnancy and children's health, will serve its audience with trusted health content from NBC.

“Our partnerships with Wellness Wireless, NCC Spot Cable, eTAGZ and Family Marketing further connects our trusted, professionally produced content with more consumers who are searching for the best health information available regardless of the platform,” Mitzi Reaugh, general manager of the NBC Digital Health Network, said in a statement. “These companies are also some of the most innovative in the market and we look forward to a successful partnership with them and continuing to expand our business in the future.”

The Patient Channel, which provides television programming information in patient rooms and waiting areas to patients and their families in over 1,600 hospitals across the country and The Newborn Channel produces baby care and postpartum programming for new parents in over 1,000 hospitals nationwide.