Sportsman Rolls Out On Comcast Digital Basic
Network Scores Launches On Systems Serving Six Areas
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 2/21/2008 9:03:00 AM
The Sportsman Channel continues its carriage push with Comcast Corp., grabbing digital-basic rollouts with systems owned by the nation’s largest distributor in six areas.
Recent launches for the fishing and hunting service took place on the cable company’s 
systems in Hattiesburg and Meridian, Miss.; Shreveport, La.; Little Rock, Ark.; Comcast of Carolina; and Comcast of New Jersey.
A network spokeswoman said Sportsman Channel has also benefited from repositioning from sports tier to Comcast digital-basic in such markets as Salt Lake City.
Sportsman Channel, which is owned by Leo Hindery’s InterMedia Outdoors Holdings, reached a “hunting license” agreement with Comcast in September 2005, meaning it had the okay to negotiate carriage commitments with the operator’s varied systems.
“We are thrilled to start the year with these digital basic launches. These systems are answering the call of their sportsmen subscribers and finding The Sportsman Channel is bringing value to their bottom line on digital basic,” said Sportsman vice president of affiliate relations Mark Kang in a statement.
With the Comcast rollouts and recent launches on several systems owned by members of the National Cable Television Cooperative, Sportsman executives say the network now counts some 17 million full- and part-time subscribers.
