• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, April 22, 2011

Meredith Corp.'s video division, Meredith Video Studios, is joining forces with Premier Retail Networks to develop, create, and produce custom video content for PRN's digital place-based video network in retail and supermarket locations around the U.S. 

Meredith Video Studios and PRN will create customized, hosted how-to segments and scripted narrative vignettes for PRN's Checkout TV and HDTV Networks, which together reach 4,500 major retail locations nationwide including Walmart, Pathmark, ShopRite, Acme Markets, Albertsons, Fresh Market, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, and Star Markets. According to PRN, Checkout TV by itself reaches about 95 million viewers per month. The videos will draw on Meredith's home, shelter and parenting expertise, with content from magazine and media brands like Better Homes and Gardens, Parents, Family Circle, More, and Fitness.

The custom video content may also draw on a number of existing shows regularly produced by Meredith, including "Better," a 60-minute nationally syndicated daily women's lifestyle show currently airing in more than 90 markets, which is shot and produced in MVS's new HD studios in New York City. Meredith also produces content for broadband video networks including BetterTV.com, Parents.com and MyFirstBaby.com.

This isn't PRN's first content partnership with a major magazine brand. In October 2010 PRN announced a deal with People.com to bring some of its premium online video content to big-box retail chains. The videos, focusing on celebrities' lifestyles and doings, air on PRN's Checkout TV Network.

In 2008 Condé Nast's Bon Appetit partnered with PRN to distribute special, custom-made content via Checkout TV. The short-form, custom content includes cooking tips, party ideas, and tie-ins with "The Next Food Network Star"; Bon Appetit also has a strategic partnership with the Food Network.