Lifestyle channels sign of things to come?

Interesting NY Times article about a company intent on making money promoting healthy lifestyle.

Now, Ms. Kettler is trying her hand at convergence again. She is the
founder and chief executive of Lime, a media company devoted to new-age
lifestyle programs on subjects like organic food, hybrid cars and
alternative medicine….

"Healthy living is a trend that is becoming more mainstream, and we can
create a brand that unites a fragmented category" Mr. Case said.
"Second, the ideal of building a next-generation network was intriguing
to me."

Lime has just started a Web site featuring a collection of blogs,
podcasts of the radio shows and many video clips drawn from its TV
programming. It is already sending text programming to mobile phones
and will soon add video offerings.

Most of Lime’s Web site consists of a series of blogs, run by
freelance writers who identify articles of interest around the Web,
adding some commentary, but little original reporting.

Ms.
Kettler said this was not only economical, but it tapped into the
skepticism audiences had about so-called authoritative voices.

"We have lined up people who we use as filters for what is out on the
Web so people can learn a bit and interact with other like-minded
people," she said.

The blogs will also incorporate video and
audio programming produced by Lime, and eventually content produced by
its users. (For now, as on most blogs, users can comment on any item.)

The
company also hopes to turn the site into a social community, giving
members the ability to create profile pages that contain content they
contributed, in a stripped-down version of MySpace.com, the networking site.

The
site is organized around six channels – exercise, health, environmental
issues and design, personal growth, food and what it calls "beyond."

This seems to me some serious thought about how to encourage better lifestyles (not just saying don’t do this and don’t do that) and about media communication. Internet, blogs, video and cell phones all in one media package. I think this is pretty much a vision of how top internet channels will be from now on. I’d like to see Cancer.org move in this direction.