RLTV (previously known as Retirement Living TV) was an American

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broa ...

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

. Launched on September 5, 2006, the channel targeted a demographic aged 50 years and older. Its topics and programs included health and wellness, finance, travel, lifestyle, reinvention, as well as scripted comedy and drama in its cable era. The network is owned by Retirement Living TV, LLC and is based in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. At its peak, RLTV was available in 29 million homes in the US. In October 2017, The

E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...

purchased RLTV's carriage contracts and replaced RLTV with Newsy.

History

RLTV was founded by John C. Erickson, CEO and Chairman of

Erickson Retirement Communities Erickson Senior Living is an owner, manager and developer of retirement communities in the United States. It provides independent living, assisted living, memory and skilled nursing care, managing 20 campus-style retirement communities in 11 stat ...

, a privately held company based in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, and founded in 1983. Comcast was an early investor in the network. RLTV hired Gerontologist Alexis Abramson, PhD. and her team of researchers including Dr. Marsha Riggio to hone and support their marketing and programming strategy. RLTV sponsored the Daytona 500 car of

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

veteran, 64-year-old

James Hylton James Harvey Hylton (August 26, 1934 – April 28, 2018) was an American stock car racing driver. He was a two-time winner in NASCAR Winston Cup Series competition and was a long-time competitor in the ARCA Racing Series. Hylton finished second i ...

, and produced the documentary ''Yellow Mountain Road: The James Hylton Story''. On April 16, 2007, RLTV signed an exclusive distribution agreement with

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

media company

S-VOX S-VOX Foundation was a Canadian non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated fo ...

. Under the terms of the deal, content from RLTV airs on One and

VisionTV VisionTV is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel that broadcasts multi-faith, multicultural, and general entertainment programming aimed at the 45 and over demographic. VisionTV is currently owned by ZoomerMedia, a compan ...

. In addition, the two broadcasters co-produced original programming that aired on S-VOX networks. In 2017, Retirement Living TV, LLC announced the network would wind down operations as a traditional network, a process that ended around December 31 of that year. At the time, it stated that it would continue to produce content, and launch a streaming channel for Apple TV,

Roku Roku ( ) is a brand of hardware digital media players manufactured by American company Roku, Inc. They offer access to streaming media content from online services. The first Roku model, developed in collaboration with Netflix, was introduced ...

and

Amazon Fire TV Amazon Fire TV (stylized as amazon fireTV) is a line of digital media players and microconsoles developed by Amazon. The devices are small network appliances that deliver digital audio and video content streamed via the Internet to a connected ...

the next year. The

purchased RLTV's transponder space and began using the channel space for Newsy, its theretofore online-only news channel. The online version of the network never launched, and as of 2021, the network's website is offline. Newsy itself pursued a new distribution model and ended distribution over the former RLTV space on June 30, 2021.

Programming

RLTV aired programs hosted by journalist

Jean Chatzky Jean Sherman Chatzky (born September 7, 1964) is an American journalist, a personal finance columnist, financial editor of NBC’s ''TODAY'' show, AARP’s personal finance ambassador, and the founder and CEO of the multimedia company HerMoney. E ...

sex therapist Sex therapy is a strategy for the improvement of sexual function and treatment of sexual dysfunction. This includes sexual dysfunctions such as premature ejaculation or delayed ejaculation, erectile dysfunction, lack of sexual interest or arousa ...

and author

Dr. Ruth Westheimer Karola Ruth Westheimer ( Siegel; born June 4, 1928), better known as Dr. Ruth, is a German-American sex therapist, talk show host, author, professor, Holocaust survivor, and former Haganah sniper. Westheimer was born in Germany to a Jewish fam ...

Lea Thompson Lea Katherine Thompson (born May 31, 1961) is an American actress and director. She is best known for her role as Lorraine Baines-McFly in the ''Back to the Future'' film trilogy (1985–1990) and Beverly Switzler in '' Howard the Duck'' (1 ...

, and Dr. Kevin Soden.

John Palmer John Palmer may refer to: People Politicians * John Palmer (fl. 1377–1394), English politician * Sir John Palmer, 5th Baronet (1735–1817), British politician * John Palmer (1785–1840), U.S. congressman from New York * John Palmer (1842–19 ...

and

Florence Henderson Florence Agnes Henderson (February 14, 1934 – November 24, 2016) was an American actress. With a career spanning six decades, she is best known for her starring role as Carol Brady on the ABC sitcom ''The Brady Bunch''. Henderson also appeare ...

were both also hosts until their deaths, in 2013 and 2016 respectively. In 2007, ''Daily Café'' launched as a 2-hour, live daily show airing at Noon on weekdays – a current affairs and lifestyle news show hosted by Felicia Taylor, Bobbie Batista, Mary Alice Williams and Sandra Pinckney with live news inserts produced by

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

. It was produced live out of Reuters Studios in Washington, D.C. RLTV documented the last on-air footage of

Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...

in the form of a series of editorials known as the "Cronkite Chronicles".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Retirement Living Tv Television channels and stations established in 2006 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2017 Old age in the United States