Steve Case Buys Maker of Health, Wellness TV Shows

Steve Case, the founder of America Online and former chairman of Time Warner Inc., announced Monday that he was buying the assets of a company that makes health and wellness TV programming.

Case did not disclose how much he was paying for Wisdom Media Group, which makes programs on yoga, acupuncture, shiatsu and other topics. The shows have a relatively small distribution of 7 million viewers on EchoStar Communications Corp.’s satellite TV service and Comcast Corp.’s cable service.

Wisdom Media joins several other health and wellness-themed companies Case has invested in, such as a high-end spa outside Tucson called Miraval.

Case also announced Monday that he had formed an investment company called Revolution that would include those and other investments in healthcare, resorts and healthful lifestyles. Case will control the Washington-based company and provide its initial $500 million in investment capital.

Case resigned as Time Warner’s chairman in 2003 but remains on the company’s board. The former AOL chairman was reviled by many shareholders as a key architect of the disastrous AOL-Time Warner union, along with former Chief Executive Gerald Levin.