Sportsman Channel is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

Category B

specialty channel A specialty channel (also known in the United States as a cable channel or cable network) can be a commercial broadcasting or non-commercial television channel which consists of television programming focused on a single genre, subject or targeted ...

owned by Keywest Marketing Ltd. and the

Outdoor Sportsman Group Outdoor Sportsman Group, Inc. (a.k.a. Outdoor Sportsman), a subsidiary of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE), is an outdoors media group in the United States. They publish 19 hunting, fishing and shooting magazines, and own the Sportsman & Outdo ...

subsidiary of

Kroenke Sports and Entertainment Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE) is an American sports and entertainment holding company based in Denver, Colorado. Originally known as Kroenke Sports Enterprises, it was started in 1999 by businessman Stan Kroenke to be the parent company ...

. It airs entertaining and informative programming that showcases outdoor lifestyle & adventure, hunting and fishing. The network features trustworthy experts who offer instruction, product knowledge and the latest tips and techniques.

History

In April 2005,

Insight Sports Insight Sports Ltd. is a sports media and entertainment company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The company is owned in part by Larry Tanenbaum, part owner of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. Properties Insight Sports operates Aquila Product ...

, through its subsidiary Global Fishing Network Ltd., was granted approval by the

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...

(CRTC) to launch a channel called Global Fishing Network, described as "a national English-language Category 2 specialty programming undertaking devoted to fishing and fishing enthusiasts." The channel was launched on December 2, 2005 as World Fishing Network in

standard definition Standard-definition television (SDTV, SD, often shortened to standard definition) is a television system which uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. "Standard" refers to it being the prevailing sp ...

Rogers Cable Rogers Cable Inc. is Canada's largest cable television service provider with about 2.25 million television customers, and over 930,000 Internet subscribers, primarily in Southern & Eastern Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador. Ro ...

. In November 2007,

World Fishing Network World Fishing Network (WFN) is an American television network, which offers online and mobile platform dedicated exclusively to fishing. Based on the Canadian television network of the same name. The network's programming covers instruction, t ...

first launched internationally in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

on Verizon FiOS. A few months later, the channel launched its first high definition channel, in the United States, on

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 ...

. The Canadian channel launched its HD feed on September 2, 2010 on Rogers Cable. Despite the many firsts with Rogers Cable, the distributor dropped both the SD and HD channels on June 1, 2017. Since the channel's initial launch internationally in the United States, the American feed had also launched with several other American television providers such as Charter Communications, and television providers in the Caribbean, including Flow Cable in Jamaica. The American channel's affiliation with the Canadian channel has since been discontinued when, after Insight Sports sold a 50% stake in the American operations to

Altitude Sports and Entertainment Altitude Sports and Entertainment (usually referred to as simply Altitude) is an American regional sports cable and satellite television channel owned by Stan Kroenke's Kroenke Sports & Entertainment. The channel, which serves the Rocky Mountai ...

(ASE) in January 2011, Insight Sports sold its remaining interest in the channel to ASE's parent company

Kroenke Sports Enterprises Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE) is an American sports and entertainment holding company based in Denver, Colorado. Originally known as Kroenke Sports Enterprises, it was started in 1999 by businessman Stan Kroenke to be the parent company ...

, in July 2015. However, ASE took a 19.9% interest in the Canadian channel through its division Altitude WFN ULC in 2011. On January 19, 2017, the CRTC approved the sale of Insight Sports' interest in the Canadian channel to Keywest Marketing Ltd., a company with assets in both publishing and television productions relating to hunting and fishing, among others. The sale of the channel to Keywest Marketing marked Insight Sports' exit from the broadcasting industry, after selling off or shuttering its previous broadcasting assets, including

GameTV GameTV is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by Anthem Sports & Entertainment. It currently broadcasts a mixture of game shows, reality competition series, and films. The channel was first launched in 2005 under the ownership of ...

and NHL Network Canada. On January 14, 2019, World Fishing Network in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

officially relaunched as Sportsman Channel.Sportsman Channel Canada launches
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References

External links

* {{Sports television in Canada Sports television networks in Canada Television channels and stations established in 2005 Digital cable television networks in Canada English-language television stations in Canada Kroenke Sports & Entertainment

History

See also

References

External links