Kroenke Sports & Entertainment on Friday announced that it has purchased InterMedia Outdoor Holdings -- which includes the Sportsman Channel and a "slew of outdoor media" -- from InterMedia Partners, according to Tamara Chuang of the DENVER POST. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. InterMedia was a "one-time rival to acquire" the Outdoor Channel, for which KSE won the bid last year. InterMedia's portfolio also includes Petersen's Hunting and Guns & Ammo, and Kroenke adds a total of "one national TV channel, 15 magazines and 17 websites." KSE "plans to keep the Sportsman Channel a separate network" from the Outdoor Channel. KSE Exec VP & COO Matt Hutchings said that the plan for now "is to let the InterMedia brands continue to operate in their respective locations." Chuang noted when KSE "bought The Outdoor Channel last year, it moved the operation and its employees to Colorado." It also owns a 50% stake in World Fishing Network, "which it also moved to the area" (DENVER POST, 11/8). KSE President & CEO Jim Martin said that all former InterMedia Outdoors employees "will now be employed by KSE." In Denver, Caitlin Hendee noted the acquisition "gives KSE the largest multimedia portfolio in the world focused on the outdoor lifestyle, spanning TV, print and digital media." Its programming "will continue to focus on adventure sports, hunting, sport shooting, fishing and conservation" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 11/7). It is "unclear" whether Sportsman Channel CEO Gavin Harvey "will continue to lead the channel" (CABLEFAX DAILY, 11/10).
