Retirement Living TV has landed its most significant carriage deal since it launched two years ago, signing a pact with Comcast that will put the network in nearly 17 million additional households.
The rollout will begin in markets that are havens for RLTV’s target demo, including Tucson, Ariz., Albuquerque, N.M., and West Palm Beach and Sarasota, Fla.
Per terms of the deal, Comcast will distribute RLTV across its entire digital-basic footprint. According to the cable operator’s third-quarter earnings statement, 69 percent of Comcast subs, or approximately 16.8 million households, subscribe to a digital-video service.
Prior to locking in Comcast, RLTV’s top distributor was Verizon’s FiOS TV, which serves some 1.6 million subs.
RLTV offers more than 1,000 hours of original programming on health, finance and other issues that are relevant to people age 50 and up. The deal marks a turning point for the startup, which bowed in September 2006.
“There is a heated battle for the hearts, minds, and eyeballs of the booming 50+ demo, and we’re thrilled that Comcast is joining RLTV so that [we] can enhance the television experience for this demographic,” said RLTV CEO Brad Knight.
Before adding RLTV to its digital-basic lineup, Comcast programmed a block of RLTV fare on CN8, a regional channel available in some 9.2 million households throughout the MSO’s New England and Mid-Atlantic systems.