I just got a press release that Sportsman Channel officially will be available on DISH Network.

Sportsman Channel and Sportsman HD will be available on DISH Network on channels 285 and 9483, respectively.

Before a few cable markets and DirecTV had Sportsman Channel. Now it will have about the same distribution as Outdoor Channel.

This means that many folks here who have DISH that haven't been able to see Craig and Ivan's "Hornaday's Africa" will now.

This should also make for some good competition with Outdoor Channel, and hopefully improve the programming on both. I have a new show that begins in July on Sportsman Channel called THE ZONE, and this will be a good bump in viewership for us as well.

Good Luck with the new show Tim.
My Best

Thanks Marc... it is all in the can and in editing now, we had a really good season. This one is just North American big game, but we also have a project in the works that will include Africa and DG from around the world...

Do you know when this will become effective?

Below is the release. Almost sounds like it launched and is available as of today?


New York, NY (Feb. 11, 2010) – Sportsman Channel, the premiere all hunting, shooting and fishing network, today announced the launch of Sportsman Channel and Sportsman HD on DISH Network, the fastest-growing pay-TV provider in America.
Sportsman Channel and Sportsman HD will be available in DISH Network’s America’s Top 250 package on channels 285 and 9483, respectively.
“DISH Network is a premiere provider of high-quality sports programming to millions of households across America, and we are thrilled to deliver our network to DISH Network’s passionate base of outdoor enthusiasts,” said Sportsman Channel President Willy Burkhardt. “We are also excited to be DISH Network’s first high definition channel dedicated to hunting, shooting and fishing programming. This is a testament to the high-quality, entertaining and informative programming we deliver to our viewers and partners every day.”
Sportsman Channel has become one of the fastest-growing networks in television. Over the past year, Sportsman has increased its original production slate, increased support of independent producers, launched a new on-air look, and expanded its Hunt.Fish.Feed national public affairs program.

“2009 was a tremendous year of growth and expansion on multiple levels for Sportsman Channel, and 2010 is off to a flying start,” added Burkhardt.
For more information about the Sportsman Channel, visit www.thesportsmanchannel.com. To learn more about DISH Network's sports offerings and comprehensive HD lineup, visit www.dishnetwork.com.
SPORTSMAN CHANNEL: Launched in 2003, Sportsman Channel is the only television and digital media company fully devoted to the more than 82 million sportsmen in the United States, delivering entertaining and educational programming focused exclusively on hunting, shooting and fishing activities. Acquired by InterMedia Outdoors Holdings in 2006, Sportsman Channel reaches more than 20 million U.S. television households and is a part of the nation's largest multimedia company targeted exclusively to serving the information and entertainment needs of outdoors enthusiasts. For more information, visit www.thesportsmanchannel.com.
DISH NETWORK: DISH Network L.L.C., a subsidiary of DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH), provides more than 14 million satellite TV customers, as of Dec. 10, 2009, with the highest quality programming and technology at the best value, including the lowest all-digital price nationwide. Customers have access to hundreds of video and audio channels, the most HD channels, the most international channels, state-of-the-art interactive TV applications, and award-winning HD and DVR technology including 1080p Video on Demand and the ViP® 722 HD DVR, a CNET and PC Magazine "Editors' Choice." DISH Network Corporation is included in the Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) and is a Fortune 250 company. Visit www.dishnetwork.com, follow on Twitter, @dishnetwork (www.twitter.com/dishnetwork), or become a Fan on Facebook, www.facebook.com/dishnetwork.

Congratulations and best of luck!!!

It's there, but not in the basic package--shows up on my Dish guide as an "option for extra money" station.

We need quality, not quantity in Outdoor programming. Tracks Across Africa, Jim Shockey' show (but please Jim, why do I have to watch you pull the trigger 3 times on every animal?), SCI's show and Monster Fish are the best ones. Some of the trout fishing shows are well done. I appreciate what Jim Zumbo does for veterans and disabled kids and watch his show. Other than that, if you are going to sit in a stand and shoot deer, I have no interest in watching. I have even less interest in watching some guy shoot plains game over a waterhole, although well done plains game hunts are interesting.

Here is what makes me gag: scene of a guy driving an RV, being filmed by the passenger to his right, talking about the upcoming hunt. Or the meet and greet at the airport. Who wants to watch that??? On the other hand, seeing the charter land in Africa, well that's different...

Tim - I checked last night and you were right on. Flipped to channel 285 and there it was. Thanks for the heads up and good luck with your new show, will be watching for it.

AAW - To each his/her own. I guess that's why they have lots of different shows. That gives not only the narrowminded folks, but everyone else other options to view as well.

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Sellers:
Tim - I checked last night and you were right on. Flipped to channel 285 and there it was. Thanks for the heads up and good luck with your new show, will be watching for it.

AAW - To each his/her own. I guess that's why they have lots of different shows. That gives not only the narrowminded folks, but everyone else other options to view as well.

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

Larry, I couldn't agree more. Just providing feedback.

I don't have anything against hunting shows that don't focus on Africa, it just seems there aren't many that are well done. Some elk hunting shows are very well done. Petersen's HUNTING is pretty good. I especially enoyed the episode where Ron Coburn of Savage went moose hunting, wanted to shoot a small moose, didn't because the guide said it was too small, and left without a moose. That is hunting. Real hunting. I genuinely enjoyed that show.

I will have to tune in to Tim's, but like I said, I don't much interest in watching someone shoot a deer out of a stand.

Here is an idea for a writer or videographer: Lay out a series of hunts. Tell us why you are going. Lay the plan out on a website. Tell us what you paid for it, and if you got that hunt for free, tell us. Show each hunt, even if it was not successful. To me, that would be much more interesting.

Yea, I just called Dish. I have the 200 package with HD and the Outdoor Channel at an additional cost. It would cost me $10.00 more to get the 250 package?

You can usually get the channels ala carte for like $1.99/month if you don't buy the package.

I have to admit that I too would rather see Ivan stand down a bull ele, or Shockey shoot a Tur than a bunch of whitetail deer.

That being said, we will have a few whitetail hunts in our show. It is N American, and whitetail is king. We also have some great spot and stalk archery mulies, elk, big pronghorn, Coue's, etc. This coming year, we have a number of elk hunts (bow and gun)- more mulies (bow and gun- with Mark Young) - spot and stalk whitetail (with Aaron Neilsen)- mountain goat, hopefully AK Moose (if I get drawn), etc. We are trying to bring real top end hunts and portray them truthfully.

We are also producing Nosler's Magnum TV on Outdoor Channel that has adventure hunts from around the world, Tanzania, Zim, New Zealand, Argentina, NWT, AK, etc. Sheep, elephant, lion, stag, etc. will be featured on this program. It will also be a mix of our hosts and regular guys hunting. We often hear viewers say that they want to see "average guys" hunting. I always thought this was a bad choice of words, but we are doing that in this show. 1/3-1/2 the shows will be hunters that we are simply tagging along with, some will even be DIY hunts. We'll see how viewers receive that...

AAW said he would like to see the trips listed and shown kill or not...that's all good in theory...but I guarantee if you start having 2-3 shows in a row with no kill, you will lose 99% of your viewers. You might get by with 1 episode a quarter with no kill, or a miss, if you have a good story, but if you do it often at all, you are out of business. I am not saying that it's right, but it is true.

Unfortunately you cannot purchase this Channel ala carte. You have to have Dish 250 to get it.

Tim,

Thanks for the heads up. I just turned to 285 and there it was. AWESOME!!!! DAN

Been watching it tonight. Congratulations. Very nice.