Two high-profile New Zealand businessmen have swooped to secure their stake in a company that entertains patients in doctors' waiting rooms.
Health TV installs internet-projected televisions in surgeries and its clients' health campaigns are played through the network.
Yesterday the company announced a multimillion-dollar investment from former Ernst
& Young chief executive John Judge and former managing director of Prudential Insurance Trevor Perry.
Since it launched in July last year, Health TV has installed screens in 200 waiting rooms across New Zealand.
The company holds contracts with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Accident Compensation Corporation, Sport and Recreation New Zealand, Southern Cross and Pharmac.
Chief executive Travis O'Keefe said Health TV is another example of Kiwi ingenuity. He came up with the idea when he was "bored in a doctor's surgery".
With an estimated audience of one million people, Health TV provides the ideal environment for organisations to promote health messages, he said.
"You have a captive audience who can't get up and change the channel, can't make a cup of tea, and can sometimes be waiting for up to an hour."
Judge and Perry's investment will help underwrite the cost of installing equipment comprising LCD screens and surround-sound systems.
The capital boost also allows Health TV to fast track its roll-out into Singapore. This is the ideal next step for the company and a launching pad into Asia, O'Keefe said.
IPTV technology projects a signal to the television screen via the internet rather than satellite - so a Health TV screen in a Remuera surgery may show house renovation content while a screen in Invercargill shows rural content, O'Keefe said.
"We've done something that large companies with greater resources and finances have not been able to achieve."
