RFD-TV and The Cowboy Channel

[Test Pattern]

As of February 10, 2020 Shaw Direct has added 2 new channels

RFD TV (Rural Free Delivery) Tv HD
The Cowboy Channel HD

[CDN Viewer]

Interesting channel launches, interested to see who else picks these up as they are quite niche and might have limited appeal?!

Neither of these channels are on the approved list so I did some digging and discovered that these channels are being launched by the company that owns Wild TV. They have partnered up with Rural Media Group in the USA to launch Canadian versions of RFD-TV and The Cowboy Channel. RFD-TV is similar to The Rural Channel, interesting to see that Shaw Direct is adding these channel but does not carry The Rural Channel even though Shaw cable does offer it?!

https://www.rfdtv.com/story/41645970...p-with-wild-tv

[lostjon]

Interesting channel launches, interested to see who else picks these up as they are quite niche and might have limited appeal?!

Neither of these channels are on the approved list so I did some digging and discovered that these channels are being launched by the company that owns Wild TV. They have partnered up with Rural Media Group in the USA to launch Canadian versions of RFD-TV and The Cowboy Channel. RFD-TV is similar to The Rural Channel, interesting to see that Shaw Direct is adding these channel but does not carry The Rural Channel even though Shaw cable does offer it?!

https://www.rfdtv.com/story/41645970...p-with-wild-tv

Shaw Direct actually carries The Rural Channel and have been doing so since 2013. It's actually Shaw Cable that does not offer it. The only other major provider to carry it is Eastlink.

https://www.theruralchannel.com/get-trc/

There's also RIDE TV, an American channel that covers similar content, focusing on the horse and equestrian lifestyle and culture. It first expanded to Canada in summer 2017 on Eastlink along with a number of independent TV providers (Canadian Cable Systems Alliance). Then it was added to TELUS Optik TV in 2018 and just last year on Bell Fibe TV.

https://www.ridetv.com/

[CDN Viewer]

Shaw Direct actually carries The Rural Channel and have been doing so since 2013. It's actually Shaw Cable that does not offer it.

Whoops, I mixed them up- I knew it was carried by one and not the other. On that note, why does Shaw Direct carry The Rural Channel and not Shaw Cable, same parent company owns both services?!

[musimax]

It would be interesting to see how this affects The Rural Channel. They've been kind of stagnant and not a lot of growth. They haven't updated their news section of the website in over a year at least. I don't know much about the programming though.

But it's good to see other independents launching new channels and bringing some diversity to the programming here. From the press release, sounds as if they have more channels in the works they might launch later.

The owner of Wild TV is also the owner of The Cult Movie Network, and from what I can tell, is now only an online service, as MTS dropped it in 2019 and I think that was the only service provider, unless there is some random tiny cable provider out there that still carries it. Maybe it'll make a comeback?

and is it confirmed that they both are on the air right now? it seems liek form the latest post on both channel's Facebook pages that they're having trouble with technical issues and it might not be up and running yet - but that was on Feb 4 though.

[musimax]

Looks like the company will also launch Water Channel at some point assuming it all works out as planned. The company owner has the channel name listed as part of his LinkedIn profile.

There use to be a channel in the US by the same name that closed in 2009. It was devoted to water sports and recreation - fishing, boating, water skiing, diving, etc.

One would assume it likely isn't going to be affiliated with that defunct channel, but I would assume it would be devoted to the same type of programming.

[PokerFace]

The Water Channel can also fill its tank with movies such as: Waterworld, The Waterboy, A River Runs Through It, and Halloween H2O: 20 Years Later.

The Water Channel ... We make your wet dreams come true!