Sportsman Channel is an American sports-oriented

digital cable Digital cable is the distribution of cable television using digital data and video compression. The technology was first developed by General Instrument. By 2000, most cable companies offered digital features, eventually replacing their previo ...

and

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

television network A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television show, television content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations, pay television providers or ...

owned by the Outdoor Sportsman Group subsidiary of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment. The channel is dedicated to programming about outdoor sports, including

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missile ...

and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

. , Sportsman is available to approximately 12,000,000 pay television households in the United States-down from its 2015 peak of 34,000,000 households.

History

The channel was launched on April 1, 2003, and was founded by Muskego,

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

businessmen C. Michael Cooley and Todd D. Hansen. In June 2007, the channel was purchased by the InterMedia Outdoor Holdings group, a division of private equity group

InterMedia Partners InterMedia Advisors, LLC (a..k.a. InterMedia Partners), is a private equity investment firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in the mass media, media sector. The firm, which was founded in 1992 by notable private equity ...

. In March 2009, Sportsman Channel appointed InterMedia Outdoor Executive Vice President Willy Burkhardt as the channel's president. Then, in 2014, Sportsman Channel & its parent company, InterMedia Outdoor Holdings, were acquired by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, resulting in the company's rename to Outdoor Sportsman Group.

Programming

Programming on Sportsman Channel includes various shows pertaining to hunting (both by

archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

and through

firearms A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originated ...

), fishing and firearms. An hour-long condensed version of ''Cam & Co.'', a news magazine/

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

program produced by the National Rifle Association of America for SiriusXM Patriot, airs each weeknight. Most other shows on the channel air in half-hour timeslots. Sportsman Channel also airs

infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of di ...

s during the overnight hours. In September 2009, the channel announced it would carry up to 100 original programs on its schedule starting in the fourth quarter of 2009. In March 2014, the channel premiered '' Amazing America with Sarah Palin'', an outdoor program hosted by the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate; the program was renewed for a second season slated to air in early 2015.

Sportsman Channel HD

Sportsman Channel HD is a high definition simulcast feed of Sportsman Channel, that broadcasts in the

1080i In high-definition television (HDTV) and video display technology, 1080i is a video display format with 1080 lines of vertical resolution and Interlaced video, interlaced scanning method. This format was once a standard in HDTV. It was particular ...

resolution format. On January 19, 2010, the channel announced it would launch an HD simulcast feed the following week on January 25 of that year. In February 2010,

Dish Network DISH Network L.L.C., often referred to as DISH, an abbreviation for Digital Sky Highway, is an American provider of satellite television and IPTV services and wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation. The company was originally establ ...

became the first provider to carry the channel's HD feed. The HD feed is now available on various providers including

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

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 ...

, and

Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...

Carriage

DirecTV DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...

began carrying the channel on January 21, 2009. AT&T U-verse added it on April 8, 2009. Dish Network started carrying Sportsman Channel on February 10, 2010. On September 1, 2015, Verizon FiOS removed the channel from the lineup.

Spectrum A spectrum (: spectra or spectrums) is a set of related ideas, objects, or properties whose features overlap such that they blend to form a continuum. The word ''spectrum'' was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of co ...

removed the channel from their lineup nationwide on October 30, 2017.

Former broadcast television affiliates

The Sportsman Channel was once available on some broadcast stations. However, when it reached a carriage agreement deal with DirecTV in January 2009, giving it national coverage, it became a cable and satellite only channel.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sportsman Channel Kroenke Sports & Entertainment Companies based in Wisconsin Sports television networks in the United States English-language television stations in the United States Television channels and stations established in 2003