TV4 Entertainment (www.tv4ent.com), the global leader in streaming channels, announces the creation of a new subsidiary: Digital Health Networks (www.digitalhealthnetworks.tv). The new venture will operate a portfolio of global streaming channels and an original content studio dedicated to individual mental and physical health and wellness.
Digital Health Networks (DHN) will offer inspirational content, real stories and personal community connections, while providing educational resources for individual conditions. DHN will work with category-specific experts to aggregate, produce and curate authentic video content into easy-to-find, highly focused channel brands.
The first channel, THRIVE Cancer Network (www.thrivecancernetwork.tv), launches this fall with a video library of more than 1,000 hours designed to inform, inspire and entertain global citizens impacted by cancer. THRIVE will be joined over the next year with channels dedicated to nutrition, stress management, chronic pain, autism, fitness, addiction, diabetes and caregivers. All channels will launch globally as free services, with premium member content tiers.
“Finding quality video to maximize individual well-being is overwhelming,” said Jon Cody, Founder and CEO, TV4 Entertainment. “Disease brings with it chaos. We created Digital Health Networks to offer better choices that help patients, caregivers and survivors cut through the clutter and bring clarity in chaos.”
To maximize audience reach and channel performance, DHN will leverage TV4 Entertainment’s shared services channel infrastructure, technology platform, monetization engine and global distribution footprint. DHN channels will be offered directly to viewers through websites and apps, and super-distributed to leading television, streaming and mobile platforms, as well as point-of-care domains including physician offices, hospitals and telemedicine screens.
The DHN team brings together key executives from the film, television and streaming industries, as well as top healthcare industry professionals. Former CMO and founding team member of Liberty Media’s Starz, Mike Hale, will serve as Managing Director. Entertainment industry veteran and cancer survivor turned patient advocate, Jonathan Sommers, will oversee DHN's originals studio. Sommers also serves on SWOG’s Digital Engagement Committee, an international cancer clinical trials network supported by the National Cancer Institute.
“Health, wellness, and disease touch everyone; each of us has a story. Digital Health Networks combines the tradecraft of storytelling with the power of personal experience. Who better to inspire, give advice, and discuss lifestyle options than someone who has been there?” said Mike Hale, Founder, THRIVE Cancer Network. “We look forward to providing a new media platform for authentic storytelling that can positively impact the lives of hundreds of millions of people.”
Advisors to DHN include Jeffrey Erb (President of Healix at IPG Mediabrands), Gary Hutchinson (Entrepreneur in Residence at Alfred E. Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California) and Dr. Ron Pion (healthcare telecommunications pioneer and entrepreneur), all combining to bring decades of healthcare experience to the venture.
“I have been working with healthcare brands for more than two decades and never has an industry been more in need of a storytelling platform than the health and wellness market. I am honored to bring my expertise to Digital Health Networks,” said Jeffrey Erb, Advisor, DHN.
ABOUT TV4 ENTERTAINMENT: TV4 Entertainment is the global leader in OTT streaming channels – operating more than thirty (30) genre-focused channels that reach hundreds of millions of people globally. Founded by Jon Cody, former head of Fox Digital Media and the launch General Manager of Hulu, TV4 Entertainment’s mission is to program your passion and deliver great storytelling – on any screen, everywhere. As an independent, vertically integrated modern media company based in Los Angeles, TV4 Entertainment targets underserved, passionate global communities and features tens of thousands of hours of streaming content across its channel portfolio. The company also operates an independent genre-based studio, Concrete Club, that produces and distributes scripted and factual feature films and television series. Investors in TV4 Entertainment include Warner Bros. and Sky. TV4 Entertainment is tomorrow’s storytelling platform, today. http://www.tv4ent.com