Latest from Next TV in Stand-up-to-cancer

#CableInTheCommunity: The Making Life Better Campaign

Leslie Jaye Goff — Wed, 08 Apr 2015 19:15:00 +0000

Discovery Life Channel is launching its first public awareness campaign, Making Life Better, to draw attention to physical and mental health issues.

The network said it will partner with other organizations throughout the year as it aims "to [bring] important issues to the forefront, including inclusion and equality, mental health awareness and health screenings."

Coinciding with the April 11 premiere of its original docu-series New Girls on the Block, the first cable series to profile a group of women friends in the transgender community, Discovery Life Channel is first partnering with GLAAD on that organization's #GotYourBack initiative.

The five-episode series relates the personal stories of a group of women, each of whom was assigned male at birth, as they navigate love and relationships. Robyn, for example, is now dating her life-long best friend, Andrew; the two had met as boys and planned to remain platonic best friends after Robyn's transition. But about a year later, Andrew explains, he hit on her.

Jaime is a triathlon competitor who's facing obstacles registering for an upcoming race; the sponsoring organization is concerned she has an unfair advantage competing against other women.

Working with Robyn, Jaime and the other New Girls on the Block cast members, Discovery Life has created a PSA to support GLAAD's #GotYourBack campaign, which is designed to "empower the LGBT community and their allies to speak out in support of acceptance," the network said. Each of the five women offer simple, direct ways viewers can "be an ally" to the LGBT community. The PSA will first air during the series premiere.

Other organizations the Making Life Better campaign will partner with include Bring Change 2 Mind (BC2M), which focuses on ending the stigma surrounding mental health issues and with which the network will collaborate in May for its annual "Psych Week" programming event; Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C), which airs a fundraising telecast on the network every other September; and Autism Speaks, which the network will support during the organization's international Light It Up Blue campaign.

The network said it will also work with Girls Inc. to help girls learn to set and achieve goals to lead healthy, educated and independent lives.

“Discovery Life Channel is very proud to partner with some of the nation’s most esteemed organizations, beginning with our partnership with GLAAD, to inform and inspire others about difficult emotional and physical health issues that people face each day,” Jane Latman, general manager of Discovery Life Channel, said. “It is our hope that by joining together ... to bring light to these issues and provide our viewers resources from our partner organizations, we can celebrate our differences and ultimately make life a little bit better for everyone.”

As Discovery Fit and Health, Discovery Life Channel (which rebranded in January) had worked with partners on public service messages, but Making Life Better is its first overarching initiative. It grew out of a challenge by Discovery Communications's corporate responsibility program, Discovery Impact. Having added volunteer and service initiatives at the corporate level, the programmer has challenged each of its networks to create their own signature initiatives.

"We're very active in scaling up via the network brands," chief communications officer David Leavy told Multichannel News in March, discussing Discovery Impact for the #CableInTheCommunity spotlight. "The Impact team has worked with every network over the last 18 months to explore, 'What is your Impact initiative?'"

Stand Up To Cancer Event Secures $109M in Pledges

Jaclyn Tuman — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 18:30:00 +0000

Stand Up To Cancer's Sept. 5 fundraising telecast generated over $109 million in pledges from the U.S. and Canada.

Celebrities, corporate and organizational donors, philanthropists, government entities, charities, volunteers and the general public came together last Friday to battle cancer. Stars performed, spoke and expressed their own personal or family struggles. All funds raised are earmarked for collective research using SU2C’s oversight.

Many networks donated one hour of commercial-free television, for the special program on Sept. 5: ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, along with ABC Family, American Forces Network, AXS TV, Bravo, Cooking Channel, DirecTV, Discovery Fit & Health, E!, Encore, Encore Espanol, EPIX, ESPNEWS, Fox Sports 2, FXM, HBO, HBO Latino, ION Television, LMN, Logo TV, MLB Network, National Geographic Channel, Oxygen, Palladia, Pivot, SHOWTIME, Smithsonian Channel, Starz, TNT and VH1 all were involved in helping spread awareness.

A Canada-inclusive co-broadcast was also aired for the first time, together with the fundraising event, on Canadian networks, CBC, City, CTV and Global.

“We are enormously grateful to all of our donors and collaborators – from the individual television viewer to large organizations, both in the U.S. and Canada – whose contributions made the telecast a huge success,” said Lisa Paulsen, chief executive officer of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), the 501(c)(3) non-profit organization of which SU2C is a part, and one of the co-founders of SU2C.

Noted Gwyneth Paltrow, who lost her father to cancer a dozen years and served as the event's executive producer: “The fight against this insidious disease is very personal for me, as it is for so many of us. One in two men and one in three women in the United States will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetimes, but when we all stand together, we can change the odds. When we all stand together, cancer doesn’t stand a chance. That sense of community is what the telecast is all about.”

Among the notables who participated: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Camila Alves, Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Bacon, Justin Bartha, Halle Berry, Jordana Brewster, Pierce Brosnan, Steve Carell, Dane Cook, Bradley Cooper, Katie Couric. Musical performances by The Who, the Dave Matthews Band, Ariana Grande, Lupe Fiasco with Jennifer Hudson and Common also aired.

SU2C thrives on a distinctive approach to research, where scientists from different practices and institutions work collaboratively, as opposed to competitively. New therapies and methods are presented for a wide range of cancer types, and 100 percent of U.S. donations from the general public go to these programs. Canadian general public donations go towards research teams and awareness programs in Canada.

From 112 institutions in six countries, SU2C now has more than 800 of the best scientists working to fight cancer, and 140 clinical trials with over 5,700 patients have been completed by funded researchers.

Donations are still being accepted in the U.S., through SU2C or by calling1-888-90-STAND (78263). The show can also be viewed on Hulu. or Yahoo.

'Stand Up To Cancer' Lineup Set

MCN Staff — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 17:15:00 +0000

Hollywood stars are again lining up to support Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), a program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), which will stage its fourth biennial fundraising telecast Friday, Sept. 5, from 8-9 p.m. ET/PT.

Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon, Pierce Brosnan, Jennifer Aniston, Halle Berry, Jon Hamm, Kiefer Sutherland, Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell, Mark Harmon, Rob Lowe, Danny McBride, Eric Stonestreet, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Tony Hale, Dane Cook, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Marg Helgenberger, Matt Passmore, Rob Riggle, Italia Ricci and Bree Turner will appear in the broadcast, with special performances by The Who, Jennifer Hudson, Lupe Fiasco & Common, Ariana Grande, and Dave Matthews, according to the producers. More stars and performers will be announced in the coming weeks, promoters said.

Paltrow and Joel Gallen of Tenth Planet Productions will co-executive produce the Sept. 5 broadcast, live from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC, along with ABC Family, American Forces Network, Bravo, Cooking Channel, Discovery Fit & Health, E!, Encore, Encore Espanol, EPIX, ESPNEWS, FOX Sports 2, FXM, HBO, HBO Latino, ION Television, LMN, Logo TV, MLB Network, National Geographic Channel, Oxygen, Palladia, Pivot, SHOWTIME, Smithsonian Channel, Starz, TNT and VH1 are donating one hour of simultaneous commercial-free primetime for the nationally televised fundraising special. The show will stream live on both Hulu and Yahoo.

Instead of the traditional phone bank staffed by celebrities, the Sept. 5 telecast will feature a “digital lounge” on the set, hosted by Yahoo News Global Anchor Katie Couric. Stars in the digital lounge will reach out to viewers via phone, Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms through a new campaign called "We're Calling You" that SU2C’s supporters can sign up for, as of today, at werecallingyou.org.

“Since we started Stand Up To Cancer in 2008, social media has exploded, creating a whole new way to connect,” Couric, a Stand Up To Cancer co-founder, said in a release. “So in an unprecedented way, we'll have plenty of stars reaching out to donors via social media, thanking them through Facebook messages, digital shout outs, Instagrams and tweets. In other words, this year, we are so 2014!”

Facebook has collaborated with Stand Up To Cancer since its first telecast in 2008 and is now SU2C’s primary social media partner. Over the years, SU2C has continued to expand on its relationship with Facebook through various initiatives to inspire and engage people and connect them with SU2C celebrity ambassadors. With the “We’re Calling You” activation, Facebook and Instagram will enable supporters and fans to engage directly with their favorite stars.

“Cancer affects us all,” Paltrow, who lost her father, Bruce Paltrow, to oral cancer in 2002, said in the release, “and each and every person can help the scientists who are working 24/7 to save more lives. We want to get that message out in as many ways as possible, so we’re excited to use social media to reach supporters from all over who are helping to grow the Stand Up To Cancer movement, and hopefully, get even more people to stand up with us.”

SU2C brings together scientists from different disciplines across institutions and international boundaries to collaborate on finding new treatments for a wide range of cancer types.

For the first time, there will be a Canada-inclusive co-broadcast of the 2014 telecast, which will air simultaneously on all four major English-language Canadian networks: CBC, City, CTV and Global, along with Canadian services AMI, CHCH, CHEK, Fight Network and Hollywood Suite. All funds received from the Canadian general public during the broadcast will be directed towards the creation of collaborative research teams, as well as education and awareness programs conducted in Canada.

The first three SU2C telecasts took place on Sept.5, 2008, Sept.10, 2010, and Sept.7, 2012, and were made available to more than 190 countries. To date, more than $261 million has been pledged to support SU2C’s innovative cancer research programs. Since 2008, SU2C has funded 12 “Dream Teams” of researchers and two translational research teams, as well as 26 young innovative scientists whose high-risk, potentially high-reward projects are aimed at ending cancer’s reign as a leading cause of death worldwide.