Life Time has bad news for political junkies: the fitness center is blacking out cable news for the new year.
Americans who are trying to cut fat and gain muscle in 2018 will do so in Life Time gyms without the aid of Rachel Maddow, Wolf Blitzer or Sean Hannity on its big-screen televisions. The company said that restricting MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, and CNBC coincides with its overall health and wellness goals.
“We made the decision to remove cable news channels from the large TV screens in the cardio and fitness floor areas at the start of 2018,” spokesperson Natalie Bushaw said Thursday, an NBC affiliate in Minnesota reported. “This was based on many member requests received over time across the country, and in keeping with our overall healthy way of life philosophy and commitment to provide family oriented environments free of consistently negative or politically charged content.”
The company will continue to provide wireless access for those who wish to access cable news on mobile devices.
“Ultimately, it always is our goal to meet the vast majority of members’ expressed requests and we believe this change is consistent with the desires of the overall membership as well as our desire to uphold a positive, family oriented, healthy way of life environment.”
Television screens that are build into some treadmills and cardiovascular machines will allow access to cable news beginning in February.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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