Outdoor's Game

Outdoor Channel, which has been hard at work on a rebranding campaign, is slated to roll out its first broadband offering early next month. "You will go to it to watch 1 of your favorite shows, and get short video clips of it," said COO Tom Hornish. The net’s also planning an overall upgrade to outdoorchannel.com, but that’s expected to be completed later. Meanwhile, Outdoor’s engaged in serious contract renewal negotiations, as distribution agreements with 6 major providers (about 59% of its 29.7mln sub base) are set to end on May 1, according to an SEC filing. "We’re in hot and heavy negotiations with everyone, even people we’re not going out of contract with," said Hornish, who added that as contracts terminate they are rolling over into month-to-month deals as the parties continue to talk. With new CEO Roger Werner charged with getting distribution up, Outdoor’s even slashing sub fees as much as 50% depending on the level of penetration the net gets.