Evoca TV, the Boise, Idaho startup seeking to deliver an affordable virtual pay TV service via ATSC 3.0 broadcast technology, has announced the addition of two new channels, BYUtv and Outdoor Sportsman Group.

The addition of these channels fleshes out the small-network offering for Evoca, which already delivers the Big Four broadcast networks. 

Also read: Evoca Next-Gen TV Service Draws 1,000 Early Access Subs

Evoca, which plans to expand beyond the Boise market later this year, is offering a skinny bundle of channels for $50 a month to rural areas with poor and/or expensive broadband. 

Also read: ATSC 3.0 Company Edge Networks Launching Virtual Pay TV Service for Rural Consumers

“For the more than 50 million households in small and mid-sized markets like Boise--where bandwidth and options are limited and cable is expensive--Evoca is a new paradigm for TV delivery that addresses their unique needs with both quality and variety,” Evoca TV founder and CEO Todd Achilles said. “Our signal is never affected by internet traffic in the home, regardless of how many video games, movies, or video conferences may be streaming, and these channels will help us deliver on our promise for high quality programming that matters to the communities we serve.”

Charter Communications is informing customers that it will cease to carry The Sportsman Channel, the hunting and fishing network owned by Stan Kroenke’s Outdoor Sportsman Group, on Oct. 30.

Charter’s action was first reported by TV Answerman.

Charter declined to comment.

Sportsman Channel spokesman Thomas Caraccioli confirmed via an email message that the channel had been dropped by Charter. The other Outdoor Sportsman Group channels were not affected.  

“We were looking for wider distribution and we couldn’t come to terms,” he said in the e-mail message, noting that Charter represented less than 5% of the network's overall carriage.

The Sportsman Channel airs hunting, fishing and outdoor lifestyle shows like Davidson’s Gallery of Guns,MeatEater, Rival Wild, and Sheep Shape. It became part of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment in 2014 after the billionaire sports mogul (he owns the Los Angeles Rams, the Denver Nuggets and the Colorado Avalanche, to name a few) purchased its parent InterMedia Outdoor Holdings, combining it with his Outdoor Channel and World Fishing Network. Outdoor Sportsman Group was formed about a year later.

Kroenke, who also owns British Premier League soccer power Arsenal, has come under fire in the U.K. for launching the My Outdoor TV channel in that country, which some critics have said features trophy hunting of endangered animals.

Outdoor Sportsman Group said Jim Liberatore has been named president and CEO after previously holding those titles at the group's TV networks, namely Outdoor Channel, Sportsman Channel and World Fishing Network. He gains oversight of the group's 15 magazine titles, 19 outdoor-industry websites and the recently launched subscription video-on-demand service MyOutdoorTV. He continues to report to Matt Hutchings, CEO of parent KSE Media Ventures. Jeff Paro, who had been chief of the group's integrated media unit, resigned to pursue other career opportunities after 10 years in that role, the company said earlier today. Paro joined KSE after it acquired InterMedia Outdoors in November 2014.

Liberatore became CEO of Outdoor Channel in mid 2013 after seven years at the helm of SportsTime Ohio, which Fox Sports bought in a deal announced in late 2012. Earlier in his career Liberatore was head of Speed Channel and, before that, was an executive at regional sports networks owned by Fox and by Madison Square Garden.

“Jim is an industry veteran who has been guiding the growth and transition of our networks – Outdoor Channel, Sportsman Channel and World Fishing Network,” Hutchings said in a release. “Jim’s added responsibilities are testimony to the tremendous work he has done and the team he has put together to enact and excel in all areas of our media businesses. Jim is now tasked with creating and executing a global, multi-media vision to cater to outdoor enthusiasts worldwide.”

Outdoor Sportsman Group will go hunting for subscribers next month when it launches its new fee-based digital app.

The “Outdoor Sportsman Group’s My Outdoor TV” app will offer hundreds of hours of library programming from the company’s three cable networks, Outdoor Channel, Sportsman Channel and World Fishing Network, Outdoor Sportsman Group president and CEO Jim Liberatore said. The service will be available on Android and Apple iOS devices for $9.99 a month.

NOT AN OTT SERVICE

While the app is not an over-the-top service — it will not offer live feeds of the three services — Liberatore said it was created to reach hardcore outdoor purists who do not have access to the channels and to appeal to existing fans who want an expanded experience with the networks.

Distribution remains a challenge for the Kroenke Sports & Entertainment-owned networks. The group said Outdoor Channel has 40 million subscribers, Sportsman Channel 32 million and WFN 5 million. But Liberatore said offering a true OTT service isn’t the answer to that dilemma.

“That is something that we would only do in cooperation with the cable operators and satellite providers,” he said. “We aren’t in a position to be tweaking anybody, and this property that we’re developing actually does help them sell their product.

“We want to create this wonderland for people who are avid in the space,” he added. “What drives this is our hope to increase exposure to our linear network. What we would love people to do is take some of this library programming and then go back and watch the shows.”

Among the app’s highlights is a feature that allows users to search by any hunting activity and find all the shows about that activity across all three networks. The app also will feature wild game and fish recipes from such shows as Sportsman Channel’s The Sporting Chef With Scott Leysath.

“You can type in ‘Oklahoma whitetail,’ and every show that we have in our library that features Oklahoma whitetail hunting will pop up,” Liberatore said. “The hope is that those interested in the topic will say, ‘I never knew about this guy or this show’ and will watch more of the linear feed to see the shows that they weren’t aware of.”

Liberatore would not project how many subscribers the app will draw. “We realize, at $10, we will not have millions of people buying this,” he said. “We’re hoping that, working with our partners, we will be able to create something for them that will make both of us more valuable.”

REVENUE FOR MORE ORIGINALS

Revenue generated from the subscription app will be used to help develop more original programming. He added that the app will serve as a marketing tool for both Outdoor Sportsman Group and its distributors to showcase the services.

“You almost look at this as a huge marketing play for the linear network,” he said. “Our linear business is our backbone, heart and soul, and we aren’t trying to build a separate business to deviate from that. We’re trying to build a business that grows that, and what we’re putting together could be a great model that consumers like and [that] introduces [them] to our network that will have a lot of benefits for our distributors.”