ABC will cancel its Live Well Network in January. Live Well Network is a home, health and lifestyle high definition digital subchannel network owned by Disney–ABC Television Group, the ABC Owned Television Stations.
The network launched as Live Well HD Network on April 27, 2009, and is currently available on digital subchannels of all ABC -owned and -operated stations and a handful of other station groups, with additional stations adding the channel in the near future. The channel airs home, health and lifestyle programming and is similar to Ion Life, which launched in 2007, with American Public Television's Create serving as its main competitor.
In New England, only WBIN-TV in Derry, NH and WLNE-TV in Providence, RI carry the network on its .2 digital sub-channel.
“Despite Live Well's tremendous accomplishments in distribution and original programming, we made a strategic decision that our priority must be local content, and we want to maximize our investment in our core local news brands in the digital space,” said Rebecca Campbell, president of ABC Owned Television Stations, and Peggy Allen, Live Well VP of programming and operations, in a letter to Live Well partners.
Live Well reaches nearly 64% of U.S. households. Live Well’s shows, which are primarily produced by the owned stations, include Sweet Retreats and Let’s Dish. Partner stations include Allbritton’s WJLA Washington, Gannett’s KING Seattle and Scripps-owned WCPO Cincinnati, along with ABC’s owned group.
ABC has not announced what will take Live Well’s place in the multicast space. ABC did not say how many positions will be eliminated, though the bulk of the Live Well workload comes at the ABC station level.
UPDATE
TVSpy obtained the following email sent to staffers this morning:
Dear Colleagues:
I want to share some early news with you about the Live Well Network. We’re announcing today that, after careful consideration, we are going to discontinue operating the Live Well Network, effective mid-January, 2015.
Despite Live Well’s tremendous accomplishments in distribution and original programming, we made a strategic decision that our priority must be local content, and we want to maximize our investment in our core local news brands in the digital space.
I want to personally thank all of you who have committed tremendous time and effort to the Live Well Network. I’m extremely proud of what we accomplished together and grateful for all of your hard work and dedication throughout the years.
Sincerely,
Rebecca & Peg
