News Releases
NEW YORK, NY (September 4, 2007) - Meredith Corporation (NYSE:MDP), one of America’s leading media and marketing companies, today named Kimberly Maus and Audra Lowe the hosts of Better, its daily lifestyle television show premiering in twelve markets across the country on September 10.
Kimberly Maus has been the face of Better for the past year and will continue to host the show from the West Coast. Maus joined Meredith-owned KPTV in Portland, OR in 1998 and in addition to her Better role, she currently anchors Portland's number one morning newscast. Maus has more than 18 years of broadcasting experience.
Audra Lowe will serve as the show’s East Coast host, anchoring Better from Meredith’s New York City studio. Lowe has been in the broadcasting business for more than 17 years. She most recently worked in Los Angeles at Fox Sports.
Better is an hour-long daily show that leverages Meredith’s home, shelter, and parenthood expertise. The show is based on content from Meredith’s expansive brand portfolio including Better Homes and Gardens, More, Family Circle and Parents magazines. The Better model allows stations to localize eight minutes of the syndicated national show. This could include news, entertainment features and the sale of local product integration.
“Viewers, advertisers and broadcast groups have been very receptive to the product Meredith Video Solutions is creating,” said Paul Karpowicz, President of the Meredith Broadcasting Group. “They are delivering service based information to consumers in a highly engaging way, while giving advertisers a new way to connect with viewer.”
Currently, Better airs at 9 a.m. on the Meredith FOX affiliate KPTV in Portland, OR. The Meredith Broadcasting Group will roll out the show nationwide later this month at its stations in Phoenix, AZ; Hartford, CT; Nashville, TN; Kansas City, MO; Greenville, SC; Las Vegas, NV; Saginaw, MI; Chattanooga, TN and Springfield, MA. Additionally, the show will air on three Journal Broadcast Group stations in Ft. Myers, FL; Green Bay, WI; and Milwaukee, WI. In addition to the daily lifestyle show, Better is available online at www.better.tv as Meredith’s first ever broadband channel.
Mark Berryhill, VP Programming and Creative Affairs, Meredith Video Solutions, oversees the production team led by executive producer Tracy Langer Chevrier. JR McCabe, VP Business Development, Meredith Video Solutions, directs the sales and distribution of the show. McCabe, Berryhill and Chevrier are based in New York.
About Meredith Corporation
Meredith (www.meredith.com) is one of the nation’s leading media and marketing companies with businesses centering on magazine and book publishing, television broadcasting, integrated marketing and interactive media. The Meredith Publishing Group features 25 subscription magazines – including Better Homes and Gardens, Ladies’ Home Journal, Family Circle, Parents, American Baby, Fitness and More – and publishes more than 200 special interest publications under approximately 80 titles. Meredith has more than 400 books in print. Meredith owns 13 television stations, including properties in top-25 markets Atlanta, Phoenix and Portland, OR. Additionally, Meredith has an extensive online presence that includes more than 30 Web sites and two broadband channels – Better.tv and Parents.tv. Meredith Video Solutions, the company’s in-house production unit, creates broadcast quality video based on Meredith’s highly trusted magazine brands for multi-platform delivery.
Meredith Integrated Marketing has established marketing relationships with some of America’s leading companies. Meredith’s consumer database, which contains approximately 85 million names, is one of the largest domestic databases among media companies and enables magazine and television advertisers to conduct precise targeted marketing campaigns. Meredith publishes five Spanish-language titles, making Meredith the leading publisher serving Hispanic women in the United States.