Extreme Sports Channel

Country	United Kingdom
Broadcast area	Worldwide
Programming
Language	English
Picture format	1080i HDTV (downscaled to 16:9 576i for the SDTV feed)
Ownership
Owner	Extreme International (brand) [1] AMC Networks International (channel)
History
Launched	1 May 1999; 27 years ago (1999-05-01)
Links
Website	Extreme.com extremeinternational.com

The Extreme Sports Channel is a pay television channel that was launched from Amsterdam on 1 May 1999.^[2] The channel broadcasts in over 60 countries and 12 languages, and covers extreme sport and adventure sports which include surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, wakeboarding, motocross, BMX, mountain biking, FMX, music, gaming and fashion.

History

Alstair Gosling from Essex in the UK ^[3] founder of Extreme International and a passionate skier, surfer and came up with the idea for the Network in 1996. In 1997 Alistair, Ben Barret, Juanjo Marquez and Adam Oliver started approaching potential investors to back the plan for a new brand and TV network dedicated to extreme and adventure sports.^[4] UPCtv, the programming arm of Europe's largest cable television operator UPC, was looking for new channels to offer its subscribers and in April 1998 Extreme international was exhibiting at the MIP programming market in Cannes, France, Ben Barrett the sales director was approached by Stephen Cohen, UPCtv's Chief Operating Officer, with a proposal for a joint venture between the two companies. Extreme partnered with UPC raised the capital required and The Extreme Sports Channel was launched from the Netherlands on 1 May 1999, and after launching in 22 other countries it launched in the UK in 2000.^[5][6] The channel was designed by Gosling and Cohen, management and content was produced, curated and delivered by Extreme International and technical play out and uplink were supplied by UPC.

In late 1999, Extreme launched its United States operations, and charged veteran producer, Lloyd Bryan Adams with the task of heading up the North American presence. They launched Extreme TV, a branded block on Fox Sports Net in March 2012.

In 2005,^[5] after launching the channel in over sixty countries and seeing the growth in social media and sports, Extreme International acquired sole ownership of the "Extreme" brand and IP and sold its 50% stake in Extreme Sports Channel to John Malone's Liberty Global Inc. which had by then become owner of UPC. The channel was put under the management of Chellomedia.^[5]

Following the transaction, the company re focused its business model away from traditional television to focus on sports marketing, social media publishing, influencer marketing and management, live events and social stunts.

Operations and Agency Services

Today Extreme operates a global sports marketing, influencer agency and digital media network across the action sports, health and fitness, technology and automotive sectors. Its operations are divided into these areas:

• Influencer Agency: Activating Creator and Athlete marketing campaigns pairing brands with vetted athletes and influencers.
• Social Video Production: Development of short-form social video content, promotional social stunt films and multi-platform branded storytelling aimed at youth demographics.
• Social Media Management: End-to-end management of brand channels, covering content creation, strategy, community moderation and audience growth analytics.
• Live Events & Activations: Sponsor management and production of live events, social stunts and environmental initiatives, including the "Extreme Hangout" platform.
• Talent Management and Development Extreme represents a collection of athletes, social media publishers and creators including Supercar Blondie, the automotive content creator.
• Social Distribution: Delivering media distribution for branded short form content and live events across its owned social channels, creators and athletes that combined have a following of over 300 million fans and deliver a reach of 950+ million people per month across Instagram, YouTube, Tik Tok, Snapchat and Facebook.

Clients and delivery The agency has executed marketing campaigns, covering influencers, event activations and social media distribution for corporate clients and regional tourism boards. Its clients include Red Bull, Google, Stanley Black & Decker, TripAdvisor, Swatch, Clarks, Knoops, ITV, Public Investment Fund (PIF), and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Destination marketing partnerships include Visit Malta, Egypt Tourism and Qiddiya.

Programmes

• Beyond the Beaten Path with the Eagar Brothers^[15]
• Boondock Nation^[16]
• Dirty South Bounders^[17]
• Epic Trails with Eric Hanson^[18]
• Facing Waves^[19]
• Fantasy Factory with skateboarder Rob Dyrdek^[20]
• Fighting Fit^[21]
• The Travel Geek with Cyle O’Donnell^[22]
• The Ultimate Ride^[23]

References