FitTV
Encyclopedia
FitTV was an American
digital cable
and satellite
channel, owned by Discovery Communications
. The channel focused on fitness and exercise-related programming. FitTV offered programming with such fitness celebrities as Cathe Friedrich, Sharon Mann, Gilad Janklowicz, Marilu Henner
, Tamilee Webb
and others. The network's logo was also known for its alternating colors. On February 1, 2011, it merged with Discovery Health Channel
to become Discovery Fit & Health
.
's International Family Entertainment, which also then owned the Family Channel
(now ABC Family). Jake Steinfeld
, who had starred on the network's Big Brother Jake, was a constant presence on the channel in its early years.
The original formatting of an hour on Cable Health Club included a 20-minute aerobic conditioning workout at the top of the hour featuring Tamilee Webb; a segment on healthy living; a Body by Jake workout starting at the bottom of the hour; and "Fitness Plus", a home shopping segment for fitness items and equipment.
In 1994, Cable Health Club received new sponsors and minority partners, Reebok International (its first charter advertiser) and Liberty Media
. By this time, the channel was received in one million homes and carried two hours a day on the Family Channel.
and had an $11 million production center with 16500 square feet (1,532.9 m²) soundstage built at Universal Studios
there in late 1995. The executives at the channel were Joe Maddox (a former Discovery Channel
executive) and Webster "Web" Golinkin, who had spent two and a half years planning, raising $75 million in capital, and building the channel. The majority owner was the Providence Journal Company. The channel also had a five-year agreement with Mayo Clinic
and IVI Publishing
, its electronic publisher, to provide medical information and illustrative graphics. Mayo and IVI were also minority owners of the channel, and other investors included venture capital firm Medical Innovation Partners, Inc.
15 minutes an hour on AHN was devoted to shopping. The "Health Mall" carried upscale, harder-to-find items for healthy living. AHN had a deal with Clearwater, Florida
-based Home Shopping Network
to provide orders and shipping infrastructure. For cable operators, carriage deals included a small percentage of advertising and shopping revenue.
Started with a cable audience of 200,000 subscribers, it had reached 700,000 by May 1996 and 6 million by the time of the sale of its first majority owners. However, cable carriage was a long-fighting concern for AHN and other cable outlets that launched in this time frame (Electronic Media, now TV Week
magazine, described the environment many cable networks launched in 1996 faced as a "jungle"). Time Warner Cable
, the incumbent cable provider in Orlando, did not carry AHN, and so many people in the channel's own hometown were unable to see its programs.
offered a bridge loan, which was accepted. Belo's stake eventually was bought back by AHN. An investment group of former Columbia/HCA officials, including Richard Scott and David Vandewater, took control of the network in late 1997, and live series resumed.
During this time, another minority investor in the channel was Access Health, a referral service.
. The birth brought AHN major national and worldwide media attention and was even the focus of an editorial cartoon two days later in USA Today
. By this time, it reached 8 million cable homes, comparable to the CNN/SI cable network (which would fold in 2002) and the Game Show Network
.
By June 1999, Scott and Vandewater had reduced their stake in America's Health.
Fox Cable Networks Group bought FitTV and merged it with America's Health Network, which Fox Cable already owned in a joint venture with Scott and Vandewater, naming the resulting network The Health Network. In December, it sold 50% of the channel to WebMD
.
The cable carriage problem was no more. By the start of 2000, The Health Network reached 17.5 million homes. At the start of 2000, about half of its Orlando workforce, now supplemented by offices in New York and Nashville, as well as its new headquarters in Los Angeles, was laid off, leaving 40 people out of work. At the time, The Health Network said it was moving more of its production to New York and Los Angeles so it could feature more celebrities on its lineup. In the fall of 2000, it very nearly relaunched as WebMD Television, with new programs and the removal of the AHN studio program library from its schedule; that plan was put on hold, and Fox received the 50% of the channel it had sold back from WebMD, which had lost $2 billion in the year 2000.
On September 1, 2001, Discovery Communications bought The Health Network for $255 million in cash and equity. Shortly afterward (on January 1, 2004), Discovery reinstated the "FitTV" name, as Discovery already owned its own health channel, Discovery Health.
In March 2006, New York's Cablevision dropped the channel from its systems, resulting in the loss of some three million subscribers (down to 35 million). By January 2011, however, the channel was now available in some 50 million homes, a significant increase.
On January 17, 2011, Discovery Communications announced, reflecting the changes to the network's schedule incorporating Discovery Health's programming, that FitTV would be rebranded as Discovery Fit & Health on February 1, 2011. This marks the first time in nearly a decade (since the Health Network era) that the focus of the channel has included health programs.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
digital cable
Digital cable
Digital cable is a generic term for any type of cable television distribution using digital video compression or distribution. The technology was originally developed by Motorola.-Background:...
and satellite
Satellite television
Satellite television is television programming delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic mirror generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an...
channel, owned by Discovery Communications
Discovery Communications
Discovery Communications, Inc. is an American global media and entertainment company. The company started as a single channel in 1985, The Discovery Channel. Today, DCI has global operations offering 28 network entertainment brands on more than 100 channels in more than 180 countries in 39...
. The channel focused on fitness and exercise-related programming. FitTV offered programming with such fitness celebrities as Cathe Friedrich, Sharon Mann, Gilad Janklowicz, Marilu Henner
Marilu Henner
Mary Lucy Denise "Marilu" Henner is an American actress, producer and author. She is best known for her role as Elaine O'Connor Nardo on the sitcom Taxi from 1978 to 1983.-Early life:...
, Tamilee Webb
Tamilee Webb
Tamilee Webb is a fitness guru, who is best known for her work on the Buns of Steel and Abs of Steel series of videos of the late-1980s and 1990s. They were heavily promoted by infomercial and made over $10 million in video sales. She has just released Buns of Steel 3, Abs of Steel 1 and Arms &...
and others. The network's logo was also known for its alternating colors. On February 1, 2011, it merged with Discovery Health Channel
Discovery Health Channel
Discovery Health Channel is a website owned by Discovery Communications, created for people interested in health and wellness. Until December 31, 2010, it was a U.S. cable television specialty channel dedicated to television programming that highlights various aspects of health and wellness...
to become Discovery Fit & Health
Discovery Fit & Health
Discovery Fit & Health is an American cable television network owned by Discovery Communications dedicated to fitness and health. Launched on February 1, 2011, it is the result of the merger of Discovery Health Channel and FitTV and features programs formerly found on both...
.
FitTV
In 1993, FitTV was launched as Cable Health Club, part of Tim and Pat RobertsonPat Robertson
Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson is a media mogul, television evangelist, ex-Baptist minister and businessman who is politically aligned with the Christian Right in the United States....
's International Family Entertainment, which also then owned the Family Channel
ABC Family
ABC Family, stylized as abc family, is an American television network, owned by ABC Family Worldwide Inc., a subsidiary of the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company...
(now ABC Family). Jake Steinfeld
Jake Steinfeld
Jake Steinfeld is an American actor and fitness personality. He has a line of fitness equipment called "Body by Jake" and also once hosted a Body by Jake TV show. He also starred on a sitcom on the Family Channel called Big Brother Jake. In 1985, he played a small role in the Jeff Goldblum comedy...
, who had starred on the network's Big Brother Jake, was a constant presence on the channel in its early years.
The original formatting of an hour on Cable Health Club included a 20-minute aerobic conditioning workout at the top of the hour featuring Tamilee Webb; a segment on healthy living; a Body by Jake workout starting at the bottom of the hour; and "Fitness Plus", a home shopping segment for fitness items and equipment.
In 1994, Cable Health Club received new sponsors and minority partners, Reebok International (its first charter advertiser) and Liberty Media
Liberty Media
Liberty Media Corporation is an American media conglomerate and the control is exercised by company Chairman John C. Malone, who owns a majority of the voting shares....
. By this time, the channel was received in one million homes and carried two hours a day on the Family Channel.
America's Health Network
America's Health Network was in separate operation from FitTV from March 1996 until 1999. The channel was based in Orlando, FloridaOrlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
and had an $11 million production center with 16500 square feet (1,532.9 m²) soundstage built at Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
there in late 1995. The executives at the channel were Joe Maddox (a former Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
executive) and Webster "Web" Golinkin, who had spent two and a half years planning, raising $75 million in capital, and building the channel. The majority owner was the Providence Journal Company. The channel also had a five-year agreement with Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a not-for-profit medical practice and medical research group specializing in treating difficult patients . Patients are referred to Mayo Clinic from across the U.S. and the world, and it is known for innovative and effective treatments. Mayo Clinic is known for being at the top of...
and IVI Publishing
IVI Publishing
IVI Publishing is an American-based home computer software company based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota in 1990 as Interactive Television, but later renamed in 1991 as Interactive Ventures, Inc. and later to its current name. It was a joint-venture with the Mayo Clinic...
, its electronic publisher, to provide medical information and illustrative graphics. Mayo and IVI were also minority owners of the channel, and other investors included venture capital firm Medical Innovation Partners, Inc.
15 minutes an hour on AHN was devoted to shopping. The "Health Mall" carried upscale, harder-to-find items for healthy living. AHN had a deal with Clearwater, Florida
Clearwater, Florida
Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, US, nearly due west of Tampa and northwest of St. Petersburg. In the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and in the east lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 108,787. It is the county seat of...
-based Home Shopping Network
Home Shopping Network
Home Shopping Network or HSN began in 1977 as a 24-hour/7 day a week home shopping television network televised via cable, satellite, and some terrestrial channels in the Philippines. HSN can also be shopped online at hsn.com...
to provide orders and shipping infrastructure. For cable operators, carriage deals included a small percentage of advertising and shopping revenue.
Started with a cable audience of 200,000 subscribers, it had reached 700,000 by May 1996 and 6 million by the time of the sale of its first majority owners. However, cable carriage was a long-fighting concern for AHN and other cable outlets that launched in this time frame (Electronic Media, now TV Week
TV Week
TV Week is a weekly television magazine in Australia, first published as a Melbourne-only publication in December 1957 , and bearing a strong affiliation to television station GTV.The publication is still publishing weekly...
magazine, described the environment many cable networks launched in 1996 faced as a "jungle"). Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...
, the incumbent cable provider in Orlando, did not carry AHN, and so many people in the channel's own hometown were unable to see its programs.
Providence Journal acquisition means trying times
In 1997, ProJo was bought by the A.H. Belo Corporation. It was that company's first venture into cable television; Belo, according to Golinkin, did not desire to gain any market share in cable. The channel laid off 161 of its 200 employees and ceased producing live programs. The 39 employees that remained were a skeleton crew to keep the channel running, including the entire management team. A sale of most of the Belo stake to Columbia/HCA Health Care Corp. for $50 million was soon proposed. Columbia wanted to put AHN in its nearly 500 hospitals and surgery centers, plus many more outpatient clinics. However, during this time period, federal investigations over its billing practices; government raids; charges of Columbia officials with conspiracy and fraud; and changes in management at Columbia/HCA "turned [the company] upside down", in the words of a senior official. This turmoil spurred reviews of company strategies and the cancellation of some transactions, including the sale of the AHN stake. New York real estate tycoon Howard MilsteinHoward Milstein
Howard Philip Milstein represents the third generation of one of New York's leading real estate, financial and philanthropic families. His entrepreneurial ventures include real estate, banking, hotels, marketing, and finance. Milstein is Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of New York...
offered a bridge loan, which was accepted. Belo's stake eventually was bought back by AHN. An investment group of former Columbia/HCA officials, including Richard Scott and David Vandewater, took control of the network in late 1997, and live series resumed.
During this time, another minority investor in the channel was Access Health, a referral service.
1998-99: New milestones
On June 16, 1998, AHN presented the first human birth carried live over the Internet, from Orlando's Arnold Palmer Hospital for ChildrenArnold Palmer Hospital for Children
The Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children is a 158-bed pediatrics hospital facility located in Orlando, Florida, United States. The hospital is part of Orlando Health and is supported by the Arnold Palmer Medical Center Foundation. It was ranked as one of the nation's Top 30 pediatric hospitals for...
. The birth brought AHN major national and worldwide media attention and was even the focus of an editorial cartoon two days later in USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
. By this time, it reached 8 million cable homes, comparable to the CNN/SI cable network (which would fold in 2002) and the Game Show Network
Game Show Network
The Game Show Network is an American cable television and direct broadcast satellite channel dedicated to game shows and casino game shows. The channel was launched on December 1, 1994. Its current slogan is "The World Needs More Winners"...
.
By June 1999, Scott and Vandewater had reduced their stake in America's Health.
Shows in the AHN era
- Ask the Doctor was a program where medical professionals took viewer calls in two-hour time blocks. At launch, AHN had hired 16 doctors, seven of them from the Orlando area. Shows during Universal Studios theme park hours had studio audiences. By the time AHN had to stop producing live series in 1997, it had some 7,000 hours of studio shows.
Merger and acquisition
On September 12, 1999, News Corp.'sNews Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
Fox Cable Networks Group bought FitTV and merged it with America's Health Network, which Fox Cable already owned in a joint venture with Scott and Vandewater, naming the resulting network The Health Network. In December, it sold 50% of the channel to WebMD
WebMD
WebMD is an American corporation which provides health information services. It was founded in 1996 by Jim Clark and Pavan Nigam as Healthscape, later Healtheon, and then acquired WebMD in 1999 to form Healtheon/WebMD...
.
The cable carriage problem was no more. By the start of 2000, The Health Network reached 17.5 million homes. At the start of 2000, about half of its Orlando workforce, now supplemented by offices in New York and Nashville, as well as its new headquarters in Los Angeles, was laid off, leaving 40 people out of work. At the time, The Health Network said it was moving more of its production to New York and Los Angeles so it could feature more celebrities on its lineup. In the fall of 2000, it very nearly relaunched as WebMD Television, with new programs and the removal of the AHN studio program library from its schedule; that plan was put on hold, and Fox received the 50% of the channel it had sold back from WebMD, which had lost $2 billion in the year 2000.
On September 1, 2001, Discovery Communications bought The Health Network for $255 million in cash and equity. Shortly afterward (on January 1, 2004), Discovery reinstated the "FitTV" name, as Discovery already owned its own health channel, Discovery Health.
In March 2006, New York's Cablevision dropped the channel from its systems, resulting in the loss of some three million subscribers (down to 35 million). By January 2011, however, the channel was now available in some 50 million homes, a significant increase.
Back to "Health"
Discovery Communications used the Discovery Health channel space to launch OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, a new network under the auspices of Oprah Winfrey, on January 1, 2011. Immediately, this channel's programming mix changed. The fitness programs moved to the mornings, and much of Discovery Health's archive content – and the former Discovery Health National Body Challenge – took up the remaining time.On January 17, 2011, Discovery Communications announced, reflecting the changes to the network's schedule incorporating Discovery Health's programming, that FitTV would be rebranded as Discovery Fit & Health on February 1, 2011. This marks the first time in nearly a decade (since the Health Network era) that the focus of the channel has included health programs.
Former programs
- Total Body Sculpt with Gilad
- ShimmyShimmyA shimmy is a dance move in which the body is held still, except for the shoulders, which are alternated back and forth. When the right shoulder goes back, the left one comes forward. It may help to hold the arms out slightly bent at the elbow, and when the shoulders are moved, keep the hands in...
- Gilad's Bodies in Motion
- Namaste Yoga
- Power Hour
- In Shape with Sharon Mann
- Cathe Friedrich
- All Star Workouts
- Marilu Henner's Shape Up Your Life
- Art of the Athlete
- Blaine's Low Carb Kitchen
- FitNation
- Housecalls
- Ultimate Goals
- Diet Doctor
- The Gym
- No Opportunity Wasted
- Reunion Story