.gif)
Lime (TV)
Encyclopedia
Meditation
Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
and yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
, and physical fitness. Up until February 2007, Lime's programming was available on certain digital cable and satellite systems (primarily DISH and Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
Digital). Now, it is available only over the Internet, mobile web, and satellite radio, with a small sampling of Video on Demand features on some cable systems. Like many production companies and internet ventures, Lime also produces several DVD titles. Themes include the Lime Simple Steps. Lime's main slogan is: "Healthy Living with a Twist".
The Lime television network was previously known as "The WISDOM Television and Radio Network". In 2005, the network was acquired by a company led by AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
Co-Founder, Steve Case
Steve Case
Stephen McConnell "Steve" Case is an American businessman best known as the co-founder and former chief executive officer and chairman of America Online . Since his retirement as chairman of AOL Time Warner in 2003, he has gone on to build a variety of new businesses through his investment...
. The channel was soon renamed and rebranded as Lime TV. The details of Case's acquisition have never been publicly disclosed, but the purchase by Case's company included WISDOM's carriage and distribution contracts with DISH, Comcast, Insight Communications, and Sirius Radio, as well as WISDOM's programming library.
WISDOM Television and Radio was founded in 1999 by William Turner in Bluefield, West Virginia
Bluefield, West Virginia
Bluefield is a city in Mercer County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 10,447 at the 2010 census. It is also the core city of the Bluefield WV-VA micropolitan area which has a population of 107,342.-Geography & Climate:...
. Turner (no relation to Ted Turner) was an early entrant into the cable and satellite television business. He introduced regional cable television service in the Bluefield, West Virginia, area and then expanded into the C-band service (large dish) business with potential exposure in most major US cities. By the late 1990s, Turner, while considering joining Sirius Radio, was convinced to try and become a "satellite TV network". Wisdom (a name Turner was later sued over, and lost) was born. The tiny network fielded an eclectic mix of quasi-religious, old filler re-runs and "inspirational" shows, that touched on the broad vague notions of personal growth but more often quasi-religious inspiration in the vein of author Wayne Dyer. Turner employed a number of friends, in-laws and local residents from the Bluefield, West Virginia, area and a wide range of outside "consultants" from all over the US, including New York and California. Turner was known as a generous man, and attracted legions of wannabe "television producers" of all levels of skill to him seeking programming deals. His generosity also attracted members of his fifth wife's (Brenda Turner) family. Brenda Turner daughter, Cindy Sheets, was named as CEO, although she had virtually no media experience, no background in internet, television, radio or print media. Her mother, Brenda, declared herself, "CVO", or Chief Visionary Officer. Many of the internal battles developed around these two personalities. Sheets, a fundamentalist Christian, found much of Bill Turner's programming interests offensive and opposed to her beliefs. Sheets steered programming towards bland, quasi-religious inspirational content. Mrs Turner meanwhile, pushed in the other direction, attempting to green-light more progressive projects. But the conflict between the two was so deep, neither prevailed and little in the way of broadly appealing programming came to light.
Programs were generally chosen on whim, were usually one-offs and almost all failed to fit into a broad cohesive content theme. Many programs were simply inexpensive filler shows, 'got on the cheap', while others were old "one-offs" produced by outside producers on an ad hoc basis. Viewership was virtually unmeasured, and understood to be in the hundreds (100's) not thousands or millions. Some thought viewership was in the dozens, perhaps less. Viewership was so suspect, thirty second commercials are said to have sold for as little as $10 a spot. In theory, the programming was intended to help viewers improve their lives and the world. But fierce divisions within the company kept a cohesive programming focus, or brand identity from emerging. Many employees from the Bluefield area, a heavily fundamentalist Christian area, felt anything resembling 'new age' was the "work of the devil," and these factions applied enormous pressure on Mr Turner to exclude these kinds of ideas. They often prevailed. The resulting compromise filled the 'network' with an odd mix of truly boring and often off-point programs. For example, debates raged over whether or not to recognize the mainstream growing organic movement, the fair trade movement or traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine refers to a broad range of medicine practices sharing common theoretical concepts which have been developed in China and are based on a tradition of more than 2,000 years, including various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage , exercise , and dietary therapy...
as legitimate programming subjects. So Mr Turner steered toward the vaguely inspirational themed programs, quasi-religious in feel and look. Overall Wisdom's programming had a decidedly 80's look and feel. The results were twofold: no audience developed and what few did watch, when surveyed, perceived the programming as religious. This perception was an ongoing problem, as the DISH contract forbade Turner from featuring religious programming. It is estimated that William Turner invested $75–$100 million dollars attempting to establish and launch the network before his death in 2002.
Present day Lime TV, combines community and editorial content with streamed video and social networking tools. Lime.com includes features such as The Meditation
Meditation
Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
Room, eco-celebrity gossip in The Green Room, a news feed and articles, tips, and polls. Lime.com is also the home of a feature called Live the Change that offers simple tips that make big changes for living better. Updated weekly, Lime's podcasts offer nine channels of content covering tips and information from Lime Radio and Lime Television hosts, specifically customized for podcast content. Podcast topics include eco-friendly gardening, fighting stress, parenting skills, and relationship advice.
Lime Radio was a 24/7 channel on Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Radio.Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of...
channel 114. It offered 12 daily hours of live call-in shows. Hosts include Andrew Weil, herbal pharmacist Dave Foreman, supermarket guru Phil Lempert, Jesse Dylan, Neale Donald Walsch
Neale Donald Walsch
Neale Donald Walsch , is an American author of the series Conversations with God. The nine books in the complete series are Conversations With God , Friendship with God, Communion with God, Conversations With God for Teens, The New Revelations, Tomorrow's God, and Home with God: In a Life That Never...
, Josh Dorfman ("The Lazy Environmentalist"), Mel Robbins and Karen Salmansohn. The channel has been discontinued on February 13, 2008.
Lime Wireless provides mobile phone information on wellness, sustainability and personal growth. It is currently available on Sprint
Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel Corporation is an American telecommunications company based in Overland Park, Kansas. The company owns and operates Sprint, the third largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, with 53.4 million customers, behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility...
and Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless
Cellco Partnership, doing business as Verizon Wireless, is one of the largest mobile network operators in the United States. The network has 107.7 million subscribers as of 2011, making it the largest wireless service provider in America....
via the On-The-Go Mobile Web 2.0 Community.
In August 2007, LIME was purchased by GAIAM
Gaiam
Gaiam is a "lifestyle company" that sells products catered toward healthy and sustainable living.Gaiam is probably best known for fitness media, such as its award-winning yoga routine videos taught by well-known instructors such as Rodney Yee....
, a health and wellness company that operates GAIAM.com.