The Ski Channel is a

Video On Demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

Cable, Satellite and Telco television channel distributed on

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operat ...

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. It ...

, Verizon FiOS,

Brighthouse Networks Bright House Networks, LLC also simply known as Bright House, was an American telecom company. Prior to its purchase by Charter Communications, it was the tenth-largest multichannel video service provider and the 6th largest cable internet provi ...

Cablevision Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...

, RCN,

AT&T U-Verse U-verse TV is a DirecTV brand of IPTV service. Launched on June 26, 2006, U-verse included broadband Internet (now AT&T Internet or AT&T Fiber), VoIP, IP telephone (now AT&T Phone), and IPTV (U-verse TV) services in 48 states.

and

Cox Communications Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable) is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services. It i ...

. The technical term for a channel of this type is

VODnet A VODnet is a Video On Demand-driven cable and satellite television network. It is a non-linear television network in that the content resides on a server and the consumer calls up the particular program they want to watch from a digital menu. Thi ...

. It features mountain oriented sports, activity and lifestyle content and is devoted to year-round mountain activities such as skiing, snowboarding, hiking, biking, backpacking, climbing and other mountain sports. The channel launched on December 25, 2008. Tennis doubles team

Bob and Mike Bryan The Bryan brothers, identical twin brothers Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, are retired American professional doubles tennis players and the most successful duo of all time. They were born on April 29, 1978, with Mike being the elder by two minutes. ...

are investors in the channel. It was founded by

Steve Bellamy Steve Bellamy is an entrepreneur in sports and entertainment known for the founding of niche cable television networks, including the Tennis Channel, The Surf Channel, The Skate Channel and The Ski Channel. He is also a writer/director/producer of ...

who also founded

Tennis Channel Tennis Channel is an American sports-oriented digital cable and satellite television network owned by the Sinclair Television Group subsidiary of the Sinclair Broadcast Group. It is devoted to events and other programming related to the game of ...

Background

About 1997, Bellamy had the idea of cable channel for skiing and started work on the concept. He switch to working on a tennis channel concept given the broader audience for tennis. In 2005, Bellamy and the rest of the Tennis Channel's management was swept out by the owners.

History

In April 2007, Bellamy announced the formation of The Ski Channel television

Video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

channel that would focus on mountain oriented sports, activity and lifestyle. That announcement brought a long term cable distribution deal with

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

and advertising deals with:

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...

, Fender Guitars,

Marquis Jet NetJets Inc. is an American company that sells Fractional ownership of aircraft, fractional ownership shares in private business jets. Founded as Executive Jet Airways in 1964, it was later renamed Executive Jet Aviation. NetJets became the ...

s and

Mirage Resorts Mirage Resorts (formerly Golden Nugget Companies) was an American company that owned and operated hotel-casinos. It was acquired by MGM Grand, Inc. in 2000, forming MGM Mirage (now MGM Resorts International). History Golden Nugget Companies Inc. ...

's President,

Andy Nelkin Andy may refer to: People * Andy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Horace Andy (born 1951), Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer born Horace Hinds * Katja Andy (1907–2013), German-American pianist and pi ...

stated they were going to use the networks affluent audience to market their new 107 inch hi definition television that cost $70,000. Shortly after a flurry of programming announcements were made with ski film maker

Rage Films Rage may refer to: * Rage (emotion), an intense form of anger Games * Rage (collectible card game), a collectible card game * Rage (trick-taking card game), a commercial variant of the card game Oh Hell * ''Rage'' (video game), a 2011 first-pe ...

, episodic television series

Ride Guide Ride may refer to: People * MC Ride, a member of Death Grips * Sally Ride (1951–2012), American astronaut * William Ride (19262011), Australian zoologist Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Ride'' (1998 film), a 1998 comedy by Millicen ...

and a series with legendary

action sports Action sports, adventure sports or extreme sports are activities perceived as involving a high degree of risk. These activities often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion and highly specialized gear. Extreme tourism overl ...

photographer

Tony Harrington Tony Harrington is an English football referee who referees in the English Premier League. Harrington was promoted to Select Group 1 in June 2021. Career Harrington began refereeing in the Teesside Junior Football Alliance aged 14, after compl ...

, entitled, "Storm Hunter". A big announcement was a partnership with Olympic Gold Medalist Jonny Moseley that made Moseley an investor in the channel, a spokesperson and gave Moseley a signature show on the network. The Moseley announcement came at “The Ski Channel Baby Shower” and was attended by ski and snowboard stars:

Julia Mancuso Marie Mancuso (born March 9, 1984) is a retired American World Cup alpine ski racer, Olympic gold medalist and podcast host. She won the giant slalom at the 2006 Winter Olympics, and was the silver medalist in both downhill and combined in 20 ...

, Kirstina Koznick, Lauren Ross and Dash Longe.

Alexandra Paul Alexandra Elizabeth Paul (born July 29, 1963) is an American actress, activist, health coach, and former model. Paul began her career modeling in New York before landing her first major role in John Carpenter's horror film ''Christine'' (1983). ...

Donna Mills Donna Mills (born Donna Jean Miller on December 11, 1940) is an American actress. She began her television career in 1966 with a recurring role on ''The Secret Storm'', and in the same year appeared on Broadway in the Woody Allen comedy '' Don ...

Melissa Rivers Melissa Warburg Rosenberg (previously Endicott; born January 20, 1968), known professionally as Melissa Rivers, is an American actress and television host. She is the only child of comedian Joan Rivers and producer Edgar Rosenberg. Early life M ...

Dawnn Lewis Dawnn Jewel Lewis (born August 13, 1961) is an American actress. Lewis is best known for her role as Jaleesa Vinson–Taylor on the NBC television sitcom ''A Different World'' from the series beginning in 1987 until the end of its fifth season in ...

Jaron Lowenstein Jaron David Lowenstein (born March 18, 1974) is an American singer who formerly recorded with his identical twin brother, Evan, in the musical duo Evan and Jaron. As Jaron and the Long Road to Love, he released his debut single, "Pray for You" t ...

Scott Grimes Scott Christopher Grimes (born July 9, 1971) is an American actor and singer. Some of his most prominent roles include appearances in the 1984 cult classic ''The Night They Saved Christmas'', '' ER'' as Dr. Archie Morris, ''Party of Five'' as Wil ...

Kevin Durand Kevin Serge Durand (born January 14, 1974) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for portraying Vasiliy Fet in ''The Strain'', Joshua in '' Dark Angel'', Martin Keamy in ''Lost'', Fred J. Dukes / The Blob in '' X-Men Origins: Wolverine'', Barry ...

Amy Pietz Amy Pietz (born March 6, 1969) is an American actress, known for her roles on television. She received the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series nomination for her role as Annie Spadaro in the ...

, Jason Gray Stanford,

Sinjin Smith Christopher St. John "Sinjin" Smith (born May 7, 1957, in Santa Monica, California) is a professional beach volleyball player. He won one U.S. championship and two World championships with Randy Stoklos. He began to compete as a professional in ...

Pam Shriver Pamela Howard Shriver (born July 4, 1962) is an American former professional tennis player and current tennis broadcaster and pundit. During the 1980s and 1990s, Shriver won 133 titles, including 21 singles titles, 111 women's doubles titles, an ...

and

George Lazenby George Robert Lazenby (; born 5 September 1939) is an Australian actor. He was the second actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, playing the character in '' On Her Majesty's Secret Service ...

attended as well. On November 17, 2008, it was reported by

Business Week ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

that the channel had added

and

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in ...

to its list of distributors, that it was launching on Christmas Day of 2008 and that it had acquired the broadcast rights to classic Warren Miller movies. The channel was launched on December 25, 2008. Cox and Bright House were also on board as launch carriers. On June 1, 2009, it was announced that The Ski Channel had entered into a long term partnership with AT&T Uverse that would put the channel available as a fee on-demand service. The channel also made its first theatrical licensing deal for the

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

film, ''First Descent'', featuring Shawn White, facing down Alaska's "extreme slopes". In July 2010, The Ski Channel announced a deal with Comcast that brings the network to 43 million US television households when added to the previous distribution. The channel also announced that a mid-October grass-roots film tour would feature the debut of channel produced

ski film A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partial ...

s before they air on the service channel.

Programs

The network broadcasts events, movies, destination travel, news, equipment, instructional, real estate and all the different sports and activities that take place in the mountains in both the summer and winter. The channel has announced event rights that include the World Heli Championships that takes place in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and is the billed as the most extreme sporting event in the world, World Freeski Championships, the Subaru US Freeskiing Tour, The North Face Snowboard Tour and the Teva Mountain Games. Olympic Gold Medalist, Jonny Moseley has his own show called “Air It Out With Jonny Moseley.”

Cable and Satellite Distribution

Currently, The Ski Channel is available on 7 of the largest television distribution companies

, Verizon FiOS,

and

Dish Network DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV. A ...

reached a carriage agreement on July 19, 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ski Channel, The Television networks in the United States English-language television stations in the United States Television channels and stations established in 2008