Outdoor Channel

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Outdoor Channel Parent Buys The Sportsman Channel

November 9, 2014 by

Denver-based Kroenke Sports and Entertainment is the parent company of the Outdoor Channel. It will now also be the parent company of the Sportsman Channel. They announced on Friday that they have purchased InterMedia Outdoor Holdings, Inc. from the private equity group InterMedia Partners VII, LP. In addition to the Sportsman Channel, they received 15 magazines, 17 websites, and TV production facilities.

According to their press release, they plan to operate the Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman Channel separately. They consider the acquisition to be a highly complementary transaction. Matt Hutchings, COO, of KSE had this to say:

“The addition of InterMedia’s outdoor assets to KSE is a natural fit and gives us the most diverse portfolio of media offerings in the outdoor lifestyle space. We look forward to providing our employees and talent with expanded opportunities to collaborate and take advantage of our resources. We are also excited about providing our business partners, advertisers and distributors with an unprecedented platform reaching millions of hunters, anglers and outdoor adventure seekers. We will spend the coming months laying the groundwork to fully maximize the reach and effectiveness of our newly acquired portfolio.”

The publications that will now be owned by KSE include:

  • Bowhunter
  • Peterson’s Bowhunter
  • Gun Dog
  • Peterson’s Hunting
  • North American Whitetail
  • Wildfowl
  • Game & Fish
  • Fly Fisherman
  • Florida Sportsman
  • In-Fisherman
  • Guns & Ammo
  • Shooting Times
  • Peterson’s Rifle Shooter
  • Guns & Ammo Handguns
  • Shotgun News

Kroenke has picked up some venerable shooting publications in Guns & Ammo and Shotgun News. Moreover, Fly Fisherman was the first magazine to specialize in fly fishing. I still have some of the very first issues. Likewise, Gun Dog was the first in its category.

I hope this acquisition works out well for all involved.

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2014 SHOT Show – Day One With Ed Head And Tommy Sanders

January 15, 2014 by

The Outdoor Channel is streaming live interviews from the SHOT Show at different times during the day. The host of it is Tommy Sanders who used to host the outdoor block of programming for ESPN. In the recap of Day One of the SHOT Show, he talks with Ed Head of Gunsite and Downrange,tv.

Ed makes the point that he really hasn’t seen anything that was new and revolutionary. Rather, it has been an evolution of existing product lines. Much of these evolutionary products are aimed at the new shooters and especially those that are younger and women. These are the growth areas of the gun culture and smart companies are the ones who have responded with new products for that segment. He mentions Ruger in particular as a company that has seen good growth from their new products.

The other thing in this interview that caught my ear was Ed’s description of the mood of this year’s SHOT Show. He said people seem upbeat and united. He contrasted that with last year when the SHOT Show came about a month after the shootings in Newtown and the mood was gloomy. We expected to be hit with both new gun control laws and Executive Orders aimed at firearms. As Ed notes, the community rallied and beat back much of this. He says the AR-15 was the firearm that provided the rallying point. I’m not sure if I totally agree on that but it is an interesting point.

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2013 SHOT Show – Day Two With Michael Bane And Ed Head

January 17, 2013 by

Michael Bane and Ed Head return to report on day two of the 2013 SHOT Show for the Outdoor Channel. Among the firearms discussed are the Armscor MIG-22 which is an AR clone in .22 LR and the Beretta Nano which will be coming out with various colored frames.

They both agreed that the overriding theme of this year’s SHOT Show was fear. That is, the fear of what would be coming out of Washington. However, after Obama made his speech yesterday, they sensed a rise in optimism along with a sigh of relief.

Some SHOT Shows feature a lot of new innovative product introductions. This isn’t one of them. Ed said the industry seems to be on an even keep with nothing really different. It was more about introducing different colors, sizes, and styles of existing products. Both Ed and Michael agreed that there seems to be a renewed interest in reloading all of a sudden which they attribute to the ammo shortage and proposals coming out of Washington. They will cover this in more depth tomorrow.

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Golden Moose Awards – Go Vote (updated)

November 29, 2010 by 2 Comments

If you have been around the gun community for more than say 10 minutes, you know who Michael Bane is. He has a whole host of shows on the Outdoor Channel, puts out one of the best weekly gun podcasts around, is a fellow gun blogger, and an all around raconteur of the gun culture.

The Outdoor Channel “for whom he labors” as Michael would say, is having their 11th annual Golden Moose Awards which are fan based. His shows like Shooting Gallery and the Best Defense: Survival are not eligible for these awards as he is an employee of the Outdoor Channel. However, Michael is eligible to win the award in the Fan Favorite – Host/Personality category.

I’d love to see a fellow gun blogger win this prize. You can vote for him by going to the link below:

http://www.outdoorchannel.com/gma.aspx

If he wins, he promises to throw a big party for everyone in the gun culture! With plenty of free ammo for everyone!

Just kidding, Michael. And thanks for the encouragement you gave me at the NRA Annual Meeting in Charlotte to start this blog as I approach my 400th post.

UPDATE: Tam and SayUncle both have reminder posts to go vote. Tam makes a great point about Best New Show and she will be doing some future work for S.W.A.T. Magazine.