| The Ski Channel | |
|---|---|
| Launched | December 25, 2008 |
| Network | Video On Demand network |
| Owned by | Atonal Sports and Entertainment (Chairman and CEO Steve Bellamy) |
| Country | United States |
| Broadcast area | National |
| Headquarters | Pacific Palisades, California |
| Website | theskichannel.com |
| Availability | |
| Satellite | |
| DirecTV | Channel 1860 (VOD) |
| Dish Network | Dish Online (VOD) |
| Cable | |
| Available on some providers | Check local listings for VOD information |
The Ski Channel is a Video On Demand Cable, Satellite and Telco television network distributed on Comcast, Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, Verizon FiOS, Brighthouse Networks, Cablevision, RCN, AT&T U-Verse and Cox Communications. The technical term for a channel of this type is VODnet. 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 network launched on December 25, 2008. World #1 tennis doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan are investors in the channel. It was founded by Steve Bellamy who also founded Tennis Channel television network.
Contents |
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 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.” [1]
Partial list of programs shown:
Currently, The Ski Channel is available on 7 of the largest television distribution companies Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, Cox Communications, Verizon FiOS, Brighthouse Networks, AT&T U-Verse and Dish Network. Comcast reached a carriage agreement on July 19, 2010. [2]
The network announced it will hold an annual Ski Channel Film Festival devoted to mountain sports starting in 2011 and that legendary filmmaker Warren Miller is involved. According to Ski Channel Executives there is a large amount of these types of film produced every year providing the need for this type of a festival.[3]
The initial launch programming lineup included 30-minute episodic programs and feature films. Warren Miller had his film Steep and Deep as well as his Thrills and Spills television series. There were two episodes of Ride Guide. One episode was shot in Golmar, India and the other in Canada. There were two episodes of Skiers World that were shot in Europe. A film called AK The Hard Way featured 3 adventurers traveling in Alaska with their dog. And there was a film by the clothing company Marmot that featured paragliders in the Hymalayas. The entire block of programming was commercial free.
In the fall of 2010, The Ski Channel will have a National film tour for three original films. "The Story" stars Bode Miller, Lindsey Vonn, Mike Douglas, Bobby Brown and various other famous and non-famous skiers. There is a documentary on Bill Johnson and another documentary on Shane McConkey. To date "The Story" has won 11 film festivals and had a sold out premiere at the Manns Chinese Theatre in Hollywood that was nearly shut down by the fire marshall on 3 separate occasions during the screening because of over capacity. Although the films main stars were Lindsey Vonn and Bode Miller, many people say that adaptive skier Stephani Victor was the bright light in the film.
Even though the [1] is one of the largest ski websites on the web, the company has yet to accept any advertising. CEO, Steve Bellamy has stated that the site may start to accept advertising in 2011.
Broadcasting and Cable Magazine reported on 3/29/09 that The Ski Channel was becoming the official broadcast partner of Adventure Racing and would also be broadcasting Primal Quest the most grueling endurance competition in the world. Primal Quest was previously on CBS television.[4]