Source: LaunchSquad

Lifetime Marks ARMY WIVES' March 6 Return to Raise Funds for Military Families Through Social Media Partnership With BroadCause.com

Network to Donate $1 for Each Tweet and Facebook Post About ARMY WIVES This Week to Non-Profit Organization Blue Star Families; More Than $9,000 Raised in First Day

LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - March 3, 2011) - To mark this Sunday's season five premiere of its hit drama Army Wives, Lifetime has partnered with the social media aid organization BroadCause.com to raise funds for military families in the U.S. As part of the partnership, Lifetime will donate $1 for every Tweet and Facebook post about Army Wives this week to the non-profit organization Blue Star Families. Formed by a group of military spouses in 2008, Blue Star Families raises awareness of the challenges of military family life.

Launched on Monday, Lifetime has already raised more than $25,000 for Blue Star Families through BroadCause.com, the new social media platform designed to activate, accelerate and aggregate passionate communities around cause-based initiatives. Conceived and executed in partnership with the network's media agency -- Horizon Media -- and powered by Experience Project, the campaign marks the first time any network has worked with BroadCause.com, a platform that harnesses the communities of Twitter, Facebook and Experience Project around causes. In order to extend the reach and maximize the impact, Horizon Media collaborated with Lifetime to integrate the social cause efforts of this campaign with display media and paid social ads on Facebook and Twitter. In addition, paid media on Twitter is also driving thousands of clicks, retweets and followers for @ArmyWives. As part of the campaign, Lifetime will contribute up to a total of $50,000 to Blue Star Families.

Army Wives' fifth season will premiere this Sunday, March 6, at 9:00 PM ET/PT. The most successful series in Lifetime's 27-year history, Army Wives follows the struggles, dreams and friendships of a diverse group of women -- and one man -- living with their spouses and families on an active army post. The series stars Kim Delaney, Sally Pressman, Brigid Brannagh, Brian McNamara, Sterling K. Brown, Wendy Davis, Drew Fuller, Terry Serpico and Catherine Bell.

Immediately following Army Wives at 10:00 PM ET/PT, Lifetime will premiere its all-new reality series Coming Home, featuring U.S. armed forces service members' surprise family reunions after serving long tours of duty on behalf of the country. In paying tribute to American armed forces personnel and their families, Coming Home will follow the unforgettable and inspiring surprise reunions of members of all five branches of the military with their spouses, children, parents and other loved ones as they return home from active duty throughout the world. Coming Home is hosted by former American Idol finalist Matt Rogers.

Army Wives is produced by ABC Studios for Lifetime Television. Mark Gordon and The Mark Gordon Company's President of Production, Deborah Spera, along with Jeff Melvoin serve as executive producers. The series is based on the book Army Wives: The Unwritten Code of Military Marriage by Tanya Biank, who serves as a consultant.

People wishing to participate with and learn more information about the initiative can visit BroadCause.com. Each week, BroadCause.com showcases one cause, which is then socialized to an audience of 10+ million people.

ABOUT HORIZON MEDIA

Horizon Media, Inc. is the largest independent media services company in the world. The company was founded in 1989, is headquartered in New York and has offices in Los Angeles, San Diego and Amsterdam, Netherlands. Horizon Media was chosen as 2010 U.S. Media Agency of the Year by Adweek/Brandweek/ Mediaweek as well as by AdAge and as one the world's ten most innovative marketing and advertising companies by Fast Company in 2011.

The company's mission is "To create the most meaningful brand connections within the lives of people everywhere." By delivering on this mission through a holistic approach to brand marketing, Horizon Media has become the fastest-growing media agency in the industry, with estimated billings of $2.6 billion and approximately 600 employees.

The company is also a founding member of Columbus Media International, a multi-national partnership of independent media agencies. For more information, please visit www.horizonmedia.com.

ABOUT LIFETIME TELEVISION

Lifetime Television, the number one rated women's network, is committed to offering the highest quality entertainment and information programming, and advocating a wide range of issues affecting women and their families. Lifetime Television®, Lifetime Movie Network®, Lifetime Real Women® and Lifetime Digital™ (which includes myLifetime.com, LMN.tv, Lifetime Games, Roiworld.com, DressUpChallenge.com, MothersClick.com and LifetimeMoms.com) are part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, LLC, a subsidiary of A&E Television Networks, LLC. A&E Television Networks is a joint venture of the Disney-ABC Television Group, Hearst Corporation and NBC Universal.

Photography is available at www.lifetimepress.com.

Contact Information:

Contact:
Les Eisner
Lifetime Television
310/407-8526
les.eisner@aetn.com