The Life Channel Becomes The Change4Life Channel

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Nutrition / Diet;  Sports Medicine / Fitness;  Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
Article Date: 08 Jan 2009 - 8:00 PDT

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For the whole month of January, The Life Channel will be transforming its entire network branding in support of cross-government campaign, Change4Life. Aiming to help every family in England eat well, move more and live longer, Change4Life is a new movement supported by the Department of Health which primarily focuses on the issue of obesity in children.

The Life Channel TV network's mission is similar to Change4Life: to help and inform the general public. Key community, health and well-being messages are broadcast on The Life Channel's screens, which are strategically placed in hotspots where people carry out their daily lives; including doctors' surgeries, schools and other community outlets in the UK and overseas in South Africa and across Ireland.

"We are very proud to be involved in the launch of this great campaign," said Phil Austin, Managing Director of The Life Channel. "Change4Life underpins the programming strategy across The Life Channel's networks and is therefore a fantastic fit. We hope that our TV channel, out in the community and with an audience of 5 million per month, will help ensure that parents and children get the message."

This is the first time The Life Channel has changed its carefully built up, recognisable channel brand identity. Change4Life's campaign is very clearly branded with a distinctive yellow background and simple figures. All communication follows brand guidelines which are available for all partners to use. The campaign has also produced an introductory advertising campaign with 90" and 60" executions.

It is also the first time that The Life Channel has allowed any paid-for messaging on its Schools network. The full 90" version will play on The Life Channel Schools network and will be available for download from the Schools Portal (www.tlcschools.tv).

If Change4Life's campaign is successful, The Life Channel will have helped to make England the first major nation to reverse the rising tide of obesity in the population.

The Life Channel Schools network, launched by Tony Blair in 2007, is an in-school television network owned and managed by the Life Channel. It is currently contracted in over 1000 schools, with a network growing rapidly across the UK. It supports teachers specifically against the Every Child Matters five outcomes encouraging students to live the best life they can. The channel also provides interactive capabilities for 'school/college-specific' programming, where teaching staff, pupils, students and local authorities can broadcast their own content. The Life Channel system is a sophisticated campus-wide digital notice-board which key stake holders can use to convey information to all students in schools.

The Life Channel was launched in 2004 and first implemented into GP surgeries throughout the UK. Today, The Life Channel network can be found in over 4000 fully contracted sites, including GPs, schools, colleges, pharmacies, opticians and children's activity centres, and is growing. Heralded as one of the best 'local community' and health-related communication platforms, The Life Channel is the largest practice-based healthcare TV network in the UK and Europe. With a unique audience of over 5 million patients per month, The Life Channel is a screen-based communications network that, unlike broadcast television, goes out of home to find its audience.

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