‘Ax Men’ Cometh To Comcast VOD
History Channel Series Bows On Op’s Service Week Prior To Linear Debut
By Multi Channel News Staff -- Multichannel News, 2/29/2008 4:53:00 AM MT
Ax Men, The History Channel’s new series from producer Thom Beers, will debut on Comcast’s on-demand service a week before its March 9 broadcast premiere.
The first episode of the series, which is about the dangerous lives of Pacific Northwest timber cutters, will be available on demand beginning today, Feb. 29, with its debut on The History Channel scheduled for March 9 at 10 p.m.
In addition to the debut episode, each of the remaining 12 episodes will be available on demand the Monday following the History premiere and featured in Comcast’s Top Picks VOD. The series, available in high- definition, is accompanied by three short features produced by History Channel, which are also available On Demand.
The Ax Men feature and the other viewing choices available on Comcast’s VOD service are part of the cable company’s Project Infinity, its commitment to deliver exponentially more content choice on TV, including more HDTV, sports, movies, kids’ programs and network TV shows.
Over the course of 13 episodes, Ax Men follows four logging crews through a season in the remote forests of northwest Oregon. Plagued by mechanical failures, relentless weather -- including a hurricane that ripped through the area -- and violent and unpredictable terrain, the men risk their lives retrieving the very timber we depend upon to build our country. Snapped cables, runaway logs and treacherous machinery are among the many dangers that threaten their lives and safety everyday. Anything and everything can go wrong on these sites and the price of even the simplest mistake can mean death.
History.com will supplement Ax Men with a comprehensive minisite featuring more than 50 short-form pieces detailing the tools of the trade, where the lumber goes, the intricacy of the hand signals that loggers use and their origins; a 3-D interactive tour of the logging areas in Ax Men; a detailed history of logging; video and text bios of the loggers; a log burling game; the science of wood; a photo gallery; a plant a tree widget; and an episode guide with show descriptions and tune in info.
Ax Men is produced by Original Productions. Executive producers for Original Productions are Beers and Philip Segal. Executive producers for History are David McKillop and Dolores Gavin.
