An idea developed by Twin Cities Public Television is set to be sprung on the nation next year via PBS. "Next Avenue" targets baby boomers first online then through television programming, the
New York Times reports:
"The core of the project, called Next Avenue, will be a Web site with original and aggregated content from public and nonprofit partners--organized around health and wellness; money and financial security; and a category called living and learning--that is expected to start April 1.
"Some existing public television shows will be bundled together under the Next Avenue banner, but original television programming is not planned until the third year. Community events coordinated by local public television stations will also be part of the package.
"The initiative, which is based at Twin Cities Public Television, the public station in Minneapolis-St. Paul, has some deep-pocketed foundations backing its development with $5 million in grants, which is a fairly typical public broadcasting approach. But to make Next Avenue self-sustaining once it starts up, organizers are forming a new sponsorship approach for public television, which is often a difficult sell to marketers used to buying commercial time on more ratings-driven networks. ...
"Next Avenue grew out of Twin Cities Public Television's 2004 award-winning documentary for PBS called 'The Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimer's,' and its series, 'Life (Part 2),' also on PBS, about the generation's fresh approach to aging."
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