TNT: TheDigitalLifestyle.TV wants to be Philly’s TECH TV, create a podcasting IndyHall

The normal population may have let May 28, 2004 slip by without notice, but many tech-heads could tell you a tragedy occurred that day in late May.
It was then when TechTV, a cable station dedicated to tech news, was folded into G4 television. The station had a passionate cult following and Wired magazine even dedicated a piece on the “Mad as Hell” fan base.
However, the site’s format of in-studio tech reviews lives on through popular podcasts like This Week in Tech and Diggnation. Now, North Wales-based TheDigitalLifestyle.TV (TDL) is trying to add itself to that list.
Launched in November 2007, the site began as a network of Apple-focused video programming and is now, beginning next year, expanding to general tech news. TDL often covers live Apple events, has posted dozens of iPhone application reviews and has sat down with local techies — like iSepta — and national figures — such as Steve Wozniak, cofounder of Apple. Ritchey and a few other TDL contributors have worked for Apple in the past, both in retail and at the company’s headquarters in California.
TDL is even looking to begin a community video studio for local podcasters and believes that Philadelphia’s burgeoning tech scene would be a great starting point for the next TechTV.
“It certainly would be based here. I think there is such a good pool of people [in Philadelphia] that we could easily find great hosts and build relationships that would make this much more interesting,” says founder Ryan Ritchey.

Ritchey started TDL as a proof-of-concept for his full time gig: his video production company R Cubed Networks. Ritchey envisioned having businesses aggregate and produce content related to their niche and then stream that video 24 hours a day.
TDL pushes its content through the dozens of available video channels using TubeMogul and the iTunes Music Store. Ritchie says his most popular content is related to Apple events such as MacWorld and the network’s iPhone application reviews have more than 1,000 subscribers. Acorss all channels the network has reached more than one million views.
“Currently it’s monetized through very simple means such as Google ads and video ads,” says Ritchie who said he wanted to target small developers who can’t buy an ad on Engadget or Gizmodo.
Eventually, TDL would like to have a studio in a building like the Globe Dye Works which it would share with other local video podcasters. Ritchey is hoping to begin reaching a general tech audience using Philadelphia as a home base of operations and recruiting hosts and production talent locally, especially from the area’s universities. Ritchey says that Philadelphia has a thriving podcasting scene that generally keeps to itself, something he’d like to see changed.
“There are brilliant people doing really smart things, but they tend to be doing them in secrecy. There are a lot of little pods of people doing great things,” says Ritchey.
See Ritchey interview former Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki:
http://blip.tv/play/gfp9qOofAg