Jack Link's Major League Fishing to Air on NBC
by
Major League Fishing Communications
TULSA,
Okla. – Jack
Link’s Major League Fishing announced today that the Championship Round of its
next event - the Summit Cup - will air on NBC. The broadcast is scheduled for
Saturday, February 9, 2013, at 1 p.m.
Subsequent to its airing
on NBC, the Championship Round will re-air on Outdoor Channel, America’s Leader
In Outdoor TV, the following week. The first five rounds of the Summit Cup
leading up to the championship will be telecast exclusively on Outdoor Channel.
“We’re delighted to
announce that our final round will air on NBC,” said Major League Fishing
General Manager Jim Wilburn. “Our goal is to offer Major League Fishing’s
unique brand of competition to a broad audience. We believe that our innovative
format, along with the compelling and diverse personalities of our anglers,
will appeal to sports fans, not just fishing fans. We believe this broadcast on
NBC moves us a big step in that direction.”
Major League Fishing – a
partnership involving the world’s top anglers and Outdoor Channel – offers
intense bass fishing events designed to bring high-level challenges to 24
competitors. The six-day Summit Cup, with competition scheduled for later this
year, will be transformed into an action-packed television series. Each
riveting show will capture anglers’ efforts as they utilize a demanding format
that allows them to weigh all “score-able bass” they catch.
The Championship Round of
the Summit Cup airing on NBC is the culmination of two prior elimination rounds
of competition that can only be seen on Outdoor Channel. Round 1, Elimination
Rounds, follows 24 anglers over three days, where half of the competitors are
eliminated. Then, after the two-day, Round 2 Sudden-Death event, only six
competitors will advance.
The one-day Championship
Round then caps the six days of competition as the final six anglers battle it
out amongst themselves. Under Major League Fishing’s exciting new format,
anglers know where they rank in the standings via real-time leader boards in the
boats. Anglers are not allowed to practice before events and will not know the
destination of the Summit Cup until two days prior to the start of the event.
Wilburn called the
relationship between Major League Fishing and Outdoor Channel a “terrific long-term
partnership.” Wilburn added that the fresh approach and incredible popularity
of Major League Fishing’s inaugural event, which recently completed a 13-week
run on Outdoor Channel, led league and network officials, as well as
participating anglers, to seek a broader audience for the Summit Cup finals.
“We all agree that we’ve
got a great product in Major League Fishing,” Wilburn said. “We want to deliver
this product to as many potential viewers as possible.”
Pro angler Gary Klein,
one of Major League Fishing’s creators, said that NBC’s airing of the Summit
Cup finals is “an extremely important move” for the league. Klein echoed
Wilburn’s sentiments about Major League Fishing’s long-term goals.
“From the beginning, one
of our goals has been to present Major League Fishing to a traditional network
television audience,” Klein said. “Our vision is to reach out to sports fans
that are not ordinarily exposed to pro fishing. We want a wider audience to see
what we have to offer. This is great news.”
“Outdoor Channel has been
proud to be a part of the Major League Fishing project from the beginning. We
came together to create a new sports organization to highlight the unique sport
of competitive bass fishing and now we look forward to seeing the show mature
and reach a broader viewership base with the latest move to air the finals on
NBC,” said Outdoor Channel CEO and President Tom Hornish.
“We are also excited to air the next season of ‘Jack Link's Major League
Fishing’ in early 2013 on our network, where we have an ongoing commitment to
showcasing innovative, quality content that entertains our audience.”
About
Jack Link’s Major League Fishing
Major League Fishing is a partnership of 24 of the world’s most talented,
influential professional bass anglers and Outdoor Channel. Jack Link’s is the
organization’s title sponsor. For more information about the new game, with new
rules and no limits, visit: www.majorleaguefishing.com.
About
Outdoor Channel Holdings, Inc.
Outdoor Channel Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: OUTD) owns and operates Outdoor
Channel, America’s Leader In Outdoor TV, and Winnercomm
Inc., an Emmy Award winning production and interactive company. Outdoor Channel
offers programming that captures the excitement of hunting, fishing, shooting,
off-road motorsports, adventure and the Western lifestyle and can be viewed on
multiple platforms including high definition, video-on-demand, as well as on a
dynamic broadband website. Winnercomm Inc. is one of
America's leading and highest quality producers of live sporting events and
sports series for cable and broadcast television. Outdoor Channel Holdings,
Inc. also owns and operates the SkyCam and CableCam aerial camera systems which provide dramatic
overhead camera angles for major sports events, including college and NFL
football. For more information, please visit www.outdoorchannel.com.
Advertising