The Life Channel to be Exclusively 'Powered by Scala,' Worldwide

The Life Channel, Europe's largest health & wellbeing private television network and Scala, Inc., the world's largest provider of software for digital signage, are delighted to announce an exclusive global strategic partnership.

London, UK (PRWEB) June 13, 2007 -- The Life Channel, Europe's largest health & wellbeing private television network and Scala, Inc., the world's largest provider of software for digital signage (http://www.scala.com), are delighted to announce an exclusive global strategic partnership.

With immediate effect Life Channel (http://www.thelifechannel.com) sites in GP Surgeries and Life Channel sub-brands operating in pharmacies, schools and play centres will exclusively use Scala's proprietary InfoChannel production and playback system to create, manage and broadcast Life Channel content across the UK, Ireland and other regions in Europe and elsewhere planned for expansion in the foreseeable future.

The use of Scala InfoChannel is central to the manner in which The Life Channel is produced, scheduled, broadcasted and audited; its best in class functionality enabling The Life Channel's London based Network Operations Centre to provide a secure, robust content management platform that provides significant flexibility of airtime services to a variety of clients across the UK, Europe and elsewhere. This flexibility supports a broad range of campaign options for key clients including National & Local Government, the Department of Health, NHS, Primary Care Trusts, local agencies and not for profit organisations to national airtime sales for commercial brands.

The Life Channel's content management team will use Scala's InfoChannel product to service a wide range of campaigns that often require the segmentation of the network into a complex mix of national, regional, local and single-site specific territories & sub brands, designed to service the requirements of each individual client whether they be targeting particular geographic regions or audiences across the whole network estate or by specified sub-groups.

Scala InfoChannel enables The Life Channel to provide significant additional value to clients in terms of reducing production and update costs through the use of InfoChannel-created digital signage - as an additional or separate service to the editorial content produced in-house by The Life Channel - enabling The Life Channel to provide highly professional, effective communication more quickly and efficiently than a traditional store and forward solution might otherwise provide. This is especially important for clients demanding a 'just in time' messaging service that responds in real time to their needs or any breaking situation, for example the ability to create and deliver quickly an emergency broadcast, raise awareness of a missing child to the provision of helpful information including local traffic, travel and weather information.

The Life Channel and Scala Inc are to demonstrate the significance of this relationship through a comprehensive co-branding initiative whereby both companies logo's will stand side by side using a new strapline "The Life Channel powered by Scala".

On announcement of the strategic partnership, Phil Austin, Managing Director of The Life Channel said, "The Life Channel has developed rapidly over the last 30 months and now offers patients the highest quality health and wellbeing messaging of its type in the world. We have created a channel that meets the requirements of healthcare, government and commercial partners in offering a level of sophisticated message targeting and updateability that is the envy of many other private television networks and have worked hard to generate high levels of viewer satisfaction. By offering viewers regular programming, information and messaging updates, we keep the channel fresh, interesting and relevant which in turn means we have engaged viewers and as such provide an ideal platform for clients to reach millions of attentive adults every month. Scala InfoChannel provides the technical & operational capability we require to offer not only a continuation of high quality, responsive programming, this partnership will provide exciting opportunities to develop evermore sophisticated solutions to develop the channel and create long term sustainable revenues."

"I am excited about the continued expansion of The Life Channel digital signage network. The Scala team has worked closely with The Life Channel to ensure complete customer satisfaction," commented Scala CEO, Gerard Bucas. "We have enjoyed working with The Life Channel during this deployment and we are looking forward to an ongoing business relationship."

About The Life Channel:

The Life Channel is the largest health and wellbeing television network in GP Practises, currently broadcasting to over 3m patients per month in 1,000 GP practices across the UK and Ireland in addition to Life Channel network sub brands installed in schools, independent community pharmacies and pre-school play centres across the UK and elsewhere.

The Life Channel in GP Surgeries provides health and wellbeing information via satellite & broadband to flat-screen televisions located in the waiting rooms of each GP Practice to keep patients engaged and entertained while they wait to see a doctor or nurse for an average of 20 minutes. The Life Channel's sole function is to provide a high quality communications channel to patients and practise staff at the point of need.

The aim of The Life Channel is to become a significant healthcare and community-based television provider, to offer carefully created, relevant and useful information & educational messaging to the general public on important issues as diverse as health, diet, exercise and general well-being in a practical and entertaining way and lists a wide range of clients including SMA; Boots; Fisher Price; GSK Solpadeine; Child Trust Fund; Unilever; Wyeth and the Food Standards Agency. More information is available at http://www.thelifechannel.com.

About Scala Inc:

Scala, Inc., the world's largest provider of software for digital signage software used in retail, education, entertainment, government and other industries, is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2007. The Company's cutting-edge multimedia software platform powers thousands of digital signs around the world including the digital signage networks of Tesco, Rabobank, Philip Morris, IKEA, Bloomberg, Burger King, Warner Brothers, Shell, Esso, Ericsson, The Life Channel and many more.

Since InfoChannel is field proven, scalable, and easy to manage, it is the platform of choice for digital display networks ranging in size from 1 screen to thousands of screens with uses including advertising displays, interactive touch screens, retail TV, LED billboards, lobby signage, digital menu boards, interactive kiosks, employee TV and more. Scala, Inc. pioneered the industry of digital signage in 1987, and is today headquartered near Philadelphia, PA with operations in California, the UK, France, Norway, The Netherlands, China and Japan. More information is available at http://www.scala.com.

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