The Extreme Sports Channel is a European pay television channel that was launched from Amsterdam on 1 May 1999. 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. The vision and idea for the Extreme brand franchise and TV channel came from Alistair Gosling, an ambassador for action and adventure sports, founder of Extreme International, international advisory board member of Qidiyya the world's largest tourism project, and investor in Medshr and Sustainable Seaweed.
History
In 1998 Alistair Gosling, founder of Extreme, started approaching potential investors to back the plan for a new brand and TV network dedicated to extreme and adventure sports. UPCtv, the programming arm of the Dutch-based cable television operator UPC, was looking for new channels to offer its subscribers and in April 1998 Ben Barrett and Juanjo Marquez were approached by Stephen Cohen, UPCtv's Chief Operating Officer, at the MIP programming market in Cannes, France, with a proposal for a joint venture between the two companies. Extreme partnered with UPC and the Extreme Sports Channel was launched from the Netherlands on 1 May 1999, and in the UK in 2000.The channel was designed by Cohen, alongside five other new channels for the European market, and its content was supplied by Gosling. 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, after launching the channel in over sixty countries, Extreme acquired the 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. Since the transaction and as adventure and extreme sports have rapidly expanded and moved into the mainstream Extreme have gone onto develop the business across sports parks, resorts, hotels and destinations production studios, digital media network, sports marketing services, events and experiences. As part of its central brand activities Extreme supports and sponsors 128 grass roots and profesional athelets, activates 84 events each year and runs a digital media network that delivers over 100 million video views each month. The channel launched in Poland in January 2006, followed by France in that same year. 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 format. On 1 February 2012 the high-definition version of the channel began broadcasting in Italy. AMC Networks acquired Chellomedia on 2 February 2014. Chellomedia was rebranded by AMC Networks International on 8 July 2014. On 31 December 2015, the channel was removed from the Sky EPG.
