Hitting VOD Slopes

The Ski Channel is set to launch mid-summer on free video on demand, covering sports from mountain biking and caving to kayaking and snowboarding.

Steve Bellamy, former Tennis Channel president and the driving force behind The Ski Channel, which is part of his Atonal Sports & Entertainment company, talked with Multichannel News contributor Craig Kuhl.

Bellamy discussed the challenges of launching a new network targeting outdoor mountain sports, which boasts 30 million enthusiasts, 500 resorts and 60 million annual visits — along with $10 billion in annual resort and travel spending.

MCN: What drove Atonal to launch The Ski Channel?

Steve Bellamy: I had the idea for The Ski Channel before The Tennis Channel. Tennis made more sense then as a linear channel, and The Ski Channel makes more sense now as VOD because there are so many different disciplines in mountain sports. Skiing is just scratching the surface for our channel. There is [also] snowboarding, mountain biking, hiking, jumping, rock climbing.

Outside of my love for skiing, it is a great business with a gigantic, active, affluent following that is extremely underserved on TV. We haven’t even launched in the states yet and have a lot of interest from other territories around the world. It’s a really good niche for a channel.

MCN: What are the upsides to delivering the channel via free VOD and multimedia platforms?

SB: With the vast array of sports and activities that happen on mountain, it would be impossible to really service all the consumer content very well on a linear channel. There are literally over 50 real sports that happen in the mountains. Many of those could be standalone vertical networks.

In terms of multimedia platforms, The Ski Channel is very advantaged by new media. Mountain sports are far more participation sports than spectator sports. They are going to be traveling, purchasing endemic equipment and instructions. So The Ski Channel mobile is going to be a huge part of our business.

The Web will be also.

But the cornerstone of our business is really understanding who we are, what we do and what we’re here for. But we’re going to be very protective of our cable distribution.

We aren’t going to cannibalize our cable content offering by slapping it up on the Web and mobile, and will be very judicious about the three platforms barking for each other and working together in harmony. I also believe we’re going to generate more revenue from the Web than from television.

MCN: Where do you see most of your original content coming from?

SB: We are going to produce some events and then broadcast ourselves, but there will be a number of events where we will just take other productions. We probably won’t produce many to any films, as there are so many great companies already doing it.

[Travel] is going to be a huge category for us, and we will produce almost all of it. We are going to produce a very small 'just the facts ma’am’ type of news program that will be heavy with snow reports, etc.

MCN: What do the advertising opportunities look like for the network?

SB: I’m inventing a new vernacular: the CMP. I think anyone trying to sell cost per thousands in the marketplace might as well be selling 8-track tapes. We are selling Custom Marketing Packages.

We are as integrated as humanly possible and truly trying to help advertisers grow their revenue. That has been our philosophy and it’s working through the first round.

We’ve met with 70 manufacturers and resorts, with good response. When someone buys a second or third home in the mountains, they are basically buying an additional way of life supported by myriad new products.

This has boded well for The Ski Channel.

MCN: Where are some of the more fertile markets for outdoor programming?

SB: It has been a crazy five years throughout the ski resort industry.

One amazing new place is Ogden, Utah, which was one of the most dangerous towns in America at the turn of the century. Now, it’s becoming the action sports capital of the world.

A number of big outdoor sports companies have migrated there, and it has two of the best ski resorts in the world in Snow Basis and Powder Mountain. And, they have the best mountain biking, climbing and hiking in the world.

MCN: What markets will The Ski Channel be available in?

SB: We have signed deals with Time Warner, Cox and Brighthouse, and in the papering process with a number of other distributors.