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Discovery Networks U.S., partnering with fitness impresario Jake Steinfeld, plans to relaunch The Health Network next January, returning the channel to its old name -- FitTV -- and its former format.
On Jan. 1 Discovery plans to take the network back to its roots, as a destination for exercise and fitness programming. It's the latest chapter in the convoluted history of the service, which now reaches more than 31.3 million homes.
Discovery bought THN for $255 million in cash and equity from News Corp.'s Fox Cable Networks Group in September 2001. Discovery added it to its stable, which also includes Discovery Health Channel, a network focused on medical issues.
When Billy Campbell joined Discovery Networks as president more than a year ago, he nixed the notion of merging the programmer's two health networks.
"I thought [with THN] that we had the opportunity to expand and differentiate ourselves in part of the cable world that no one, even broadcasting, is really in," Campbell said.
He's enthusiastic about the relaunch, as fitness is one of the remaining programming niches not yet filled by a 24-hour network.
"Nobody has really tackled this area, which is why I feel it's such fertile ground," Campbell said.
More than $81 billion a year is spent in the United States on fitness and weight-loss related products.
As part of THN's relaunch Carole Tomko, most recently vice president of development and executive producer for Animal Planet, is moving...