Retirement Living Television to Rent Some ABC News D.C. Space

Cable Network Targeted to 55-Plus Viewers Will Rent Production Facilities, Work Space from ABC News

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/6/2008 5:39:00 PM

Starting this week, ABC News will rent some of its Washington, D.C., bureau facilities to Retirement Living TV, a cable channel targeted toward the 55-plus set.

According to an internal announcement Wednesday, Retirement Living will rent production facilities and work space, including the Green Room and makeup rooms, as well as studio and control-room space.

Retirement Living will produce a two-hour live show, Daily Café, out of the ABC facilities.

"Retirement Living’s production group is scheduled to begin moving into their offices this week," the memo said. "RLT’s set will arrive Feb. 18 and the program is scheduled to begin airing March 3."

ABC moved the bulk of Nightline production to New York, and This Week is moving to studios at the Newseum. But the Retirement Living space is separate from those production operations, an ABC spokeswoman said.

Retirement Living will use a general-purpose studio that ABC previously used as an interview facility.

A decade or so ago, according to a longtime staffer, ABC rented out some of its D.C. bureau studio space to third parties until New York put the kibosh on that, saying that it needed to be ready at a moment's notice to report news out of those studios.

An ABC spokesperson confirmed the deal and said the network would continue to be a 24/7 news operation in Washington and it will use a new state-of-the-art control room that has been up and running for about one month. ABC has not ruled out renting studio space to others, she added.

After This Week moves to its new digs, ABC will use that studio -- a large basement studio and former home to the Ted Koppel-hosted Nightline -- as a general purpose facility.