Extreme Sports Channel
European pay television channel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Extreme Sports Channel is a 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.
| |
| Country | Netherlands |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| Links | |
| Website | Extreme.com extremeinternational |
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 digital and social media coming Extreme International acquired the Extreme brand 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]
The channel launched in Poland in January 2006, followed by France in that same year.[5]
The UK version of the channel was free-to-air from launch until the summer of 2006, when a deal with BSkyB meant that it became encrypted.
On 28 September 2011 the channel began broadcasting in widescreen (16:9) format.
On 1 February 2012 the high-definition version of the channel began broadcasting in Italy.[7]
AMC Networks acquired Chellomedia on 2 February 2014. Chellomedia was rebranded by AMC Networks International on 8 July 2014.[8]
On 31 December 2015, the channel was removed from the Sky EPG.
As of 27 October 2021 Extreme became available on Channelbox via Freeview channel 271 in the UK. Channelbox is a free IPTV service available to any Freeview compatible device that can connect to both an aerial and internet.[9]
In June 2024, the company acquired their own streaming slot on Freeview[10] under the name Extreme Channel[11] on channel 295.[12]
As of February 2025 Extreme decided to give up its separate slot on Freeview in favour of Channelbox and focusing on their Extreme Plus streaming application [13]