Hospital TV network focuses on 'carevertising'

Patients, visitors, physicians, nurses, EMTs, even third shift security guards - these are the people who might be watching the 24-hour Health Care News Network. HNN  is tailored for and shown solely to hospital audiences, in the five Lee Memorial Hospitals plus 171 others in 23 states.

Cape Coral film producer John Biffar started the network last year as an "Out of Home" television station. That means it's privately operated (and not part of any major network like NBC or CBS), in this case by Dreamtime Entertainment, Biffar's local production company.

"We thought, why not expand it?" he said. "Where there's a need and a want it will expand."

Dreamtime creates documentaries and feature films, some directed by Biffar like "The Queen of Swing," a documentary about swing dancer Norma Miller, who got her start in 1930s Harlem. A promotional poster featuring a young Miller hangs in the entranceway to Dreamtime's Cape Coral offices, and Miller herself, still spunky, is often found there too.

So is Biffar, who makes an occasional appearance as a tall, benign presence, and put his production company's recourses to work for HNN. It churns out health related

JOHN BIFFAR

news, entertainment and information that includes short features, public service announcements and advertisements. He had previously been involved in local health care related television for 20 years, he said, most recently as host of "Health Matters" on NBC.

While the network airs health related news and entertainment programs, Biffar said the core of HNN is something beneficial to community businesses and non-profits called "Carevertising." Those are advertisements with messages about non-profit organizations like the Harry Chapin Food Bank or United Way, which are paid for by local companies. At the end of the ad that local company would be recognized as a sponsor.

"That's the heart and soul of what it's about to me," Biffar said.

Dreamtime will write and create the spots and air them only in specific hospitals, if wanted, or at specific times. Carevertisements or just regular advertising costs $4.50 for every 30-second spot whenever it airs, and in each hospital, said HNN's senior vice president, Jimmy Borcherdt. Most ads run twice per day in one hospital for a week.

It allows advertisers to reach a large group of people with specific interests, or at least all under one roof. If they choose to pay for the service, a company could reach a very large group: Biffar estimates HNN will be on in 226 hospitals in 40 states, with 45 million viewers before 2009.

Programs change monthly and feature news and vignettes on things such as fitness clubs, yoga, bicycling, healthy living, Lasik surgery, or travel agencies. Shows include uplifting segments like "Healthcare Heroes," which highlight extraordinary doctors, nurses or other employees; "Celebrities Who Care," with stories of celebrities and their humanitarian efforts, for example); "Fast Forward," shows futuristic innovations in medical technology; "Clinical Pearls" shares medicinal tips from healthcare professionals; "Factoids" provide intermittent medical trivia. There is no fictional content.

In specific hospitals, faculty announcements may also be made on screen, job openings, hospital news releases, services and events.

Typical HNN content consists of the following hourly breakdown: 32 minutes of HNN original series programming, 19 minutes of customized hospital programming and 9 minutes of advertising air time.

Borcherdt and HNN President Joann Ellis, both appointed by Biffar to run the new company, said the programming began in 2007 and spread to out-of-state quickly.

"It's a great deal for potential clients interested in a very reasonable media buy to promote their brands," Borcherdt said.

And the programming is high quality, Ellis said. "It's like the CNN news, but it's healthcare news, and it's fun and positive."

This kind of private, independent television station is typically designed to reach a target audience, with a variety of agendas. Wal-Mart, for example, has their own "Out of Home" network. CNN's Airport Channel is another. There's even a network shown only in elevators, Ellis said.

"What it does allow is that company to reach out and position brands that are relative to that audience," Borcherdt explained. "It's information that would benefit the patient or caregiver or loved ones. It's a way of getting information to these people to help their life…it promotes hospitals and the environment of the hospital."

The programs and ads are delivered to medical centers via a broadband internet connection, so HNN can customize programming for different states, cities or hospitals.

Ellis said it's also a way to help patients or visitors feel more positive about what might be a grave situation. "It gives people comfort when they're sitting in the hospital to know who's taking care of you. It makes your hospital experience less stressful…

"What makes us so exciting is 'Out of Home' video is the latest in direct-toconsumer marketing that started right here in Cape Coral."

HNN was taking off just as the building market went bust in Southwest Florida, though as Borcherdt said, "Real-estate and building is not the only game in town."