Extreme Sports Channel

World Screen Weekly, September 11, 2008

COUNTRIES: 55 territories, including the U.K., Ireland, Poland, France and the Middle East

LAUNCH DATE: 1999

OWNERSHIP: Extreme Sports Channel is part of Chello Zone, a Liberty Global company

DISTRIBUTION: 23.5 million homes

DESCRIPTION: Extreme Sports Channel airs not only traditional action sports but also lifestyle programming that appeals to its mostly male demographic on four different feeds across Europe and the Middle East.

SENIOR MANAGEMENT:

Senior VP, Channels: Steve Cole

Head, Programming & Acquisitions: Kathy Fairbairn

Head, Acquisitions: Alex Barnes

PROGRAMMING STRATEGY: Extreme Sports Channel has grown beyond airing just the traditional action sports of surfing, skiing and snowboarding, taking on a range of lifestyle programming that appeals to a broader male demographic. “An analogy we use is, you have your skate shops, which people think are kind of cool, but they can be a bit intimidating if you aren’t involved in that scene,” says Alex Barnes, the head of acquisitions for Extreme Sports Channel. “We decided as a channel we didn’t we want to be the core skate shops that are hard to get involved in. We wanted to be like a Quiksilver, a Billabong, which is much more approachable.”

Lifestyle programming such as the Amazing Adventures of a Nobody, which features a man traveling from Times Square in New York to Hollywood in California, on only $5 a day, has helped to expand the channel’s normally young audience to include a slightly older demographic. The show Backpackers, which follows Australians who backpack through Europe, and Jack Osbourne: Adrenaline Junkie, where the son of musician Ozzy Osbourne takes on extreme sports challenges such as rock climbing, have also found a home on the channel. “In the history of our sports there’s always been a big lifestyle element to them,” Barnes says. “There’s a lot of music and fashion that goes along with surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding. That’s what we try to deliver to our audience now.”

Also, the channel customizes its programming schedules to fit the audience interests of its four different feeds—the U.K. and Ireland, Poland, France and Pan-European, which reaches the rest of Europe as well as the Middle East. For example, the network acquires wrestling content from WWE and mixed martial arts programming from Ultimate Fighting Championship for the Polish feed. For the French feed, the channel looks for shows centered on that country and focused on traditional sports. Additionally, the channel provides short-form content for mobile phones in 14 countries.

The channel’s original productions, which constitute about 30 percent of the schedule, are usually more sports-focused because it is hard to find this type of programming developed for a specific audience, Barnes explains. For example, Extreme Sports Channel produces a French news program, presented by X Games gold medalist Taig Khris, that focuses on the action sports and music scene in the country.

When looking to acquire programming, the channel seeks out bold, adventurous and spectacular shows, Barnes says. The programming the channel picks up, often American and Australian, includes ESPN’s X Games. There is also the Association of Surfing Professionals World Tour and the annual international rally Cannonball 8000, in addition to motocross, mountain biking and super car rallies.

When structuring its daily schedule, the channel tries to air more core sports when younger viewers are home from school. It tends to put lifestyle programming on in the evenings, and mixed martial arts later at night. Additionally, strands are organized around themes, such as Tony Hawk content to celebrate the skateboarder’s birthday. “We look for the kind of things people see and go ‘wow,’” Barnes says. “We look for this more than the technical skateboarding.”

WHAT’S NEW: Extreme Sports Channel will relaunch its website at the end of September, with more features to support its programming. The site will include preview clips of upcoming shows specific to the different feeds. More programming information also will be available. “We recognize that our website is such a strong brand in itself that we can really use it to help the channel, which will be the big push,” Barnes says.

Additionally, the channel is hosting an online competition that calls for user-generated content that may be aired on the network. “We have a big push to be recognized as more than just a sports channel,” Barnes adds. “We are trying to be more than that.”

WEBSITE: www.extreme.com

—By Jackie Stewart