The Sportsman Channel said it has made distribution gains through recent launches on Comcast and Mediacom systems and via deals with the National Cable Television Cooperative and the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative.
TSC has been making inroads at Comcast, with which it reached a “hunting license” affiliation agreement in September 2005. Comcast added the channel on digital basic in Vermont and Connecticut and on sports tiers in Charleston, S.C., and in Nashville, a channel representative said. TSC also bowed on Mediacom systems serving Morris, Minn.
Among the NCTC systems and markets that launched TSC: New Wave in parts of Missouri and Arkansas; GCI in Homer, Ak.; Mid-Continent Communications in parts of North Dakota.; and Hiawatha Broadband Communications in eight markets in Minnesota..
NRTC systems and markets include: Cencom Cable in parts of Nebraska; CRST Telephone Authority in Eagle Butte, S.D.; VTX Communications in Raymondville, Tex.; and Yadkin Valley Telephone in Yadkinville, N.C.
In all, TSC gained access to about 88,000 homes through the launches, most of which were on digital basic, the channel said. The channel doesn’t disclose subscribers but says about 21 million multichannel-TV homes have access to it.
