Marc Fein Joins Sportsman Channel as Executive Vice President, Programming & Production
OutdoorHub 04.01.13
Sportsman Channel, the leader in outdoor television for the American sportsman, announced today that award-winning and veteran programming executive Marc Fein is joining the network in the newly created role of EVP, Programming & Production. Fein will lead the network’s accelerating expansion into unique, innovative program formats that span the interests and passions of the more than 80 million Americans who participate in the sportsman lifestyle. Fein begins with Sportsman on Monday, April 1 and will report directly to CEO Gavin Harvey.
“Marc is one of cable television’s smartest, most respected, and competitive network programming executives,” said Gavin Harvey, CEO of Sportsman Channel. “His broad experience and innovative perspective will be powerful assets in our campaign to build on Sportsman’s leadership in the outdoor TV category.”
“I am very excited to join the Sportsman team and take part in their ambitious vision for excellence in this dynamic, growing category of entertainment,” said Fein. “I know first-hand that America’s sportsmen and sportswomen are hungry for great outdoor TV that covers their many diverse passions and interests, and Sportsman is leading the way to provide it.”
Today’s news comes on the heels of strong ratings and growth for Sportsman Channel, including the innovative and unique series—NRANEWS Cam & Co., and Wanted: Ted or Alive—grabbing No. 1 category rankings for several weeks, as well as the network’s gains in distribution with key Comcast markets.
A 20-year network television veteran, Fein most recently served as founder and president of his own TV sports and entertainment consulting firm, advising executives, producers and companies across all aspects of business including overall strategy, original program development and distribution, raising capital, multimedia assets, and program library sales.
Prior to launching his consulting firm, he had an award-winning and highly successful seven-year executive tenure with the Comcast Programming Group, culminating in a top programming position at VERSUS (now known as NBC Sports Network). As executive vice president of programming, production and business operations for Versus, he had a leadership role in all aspects of the network, including program strategy, acquisitions, original production, event and studio production, scheduling, rights negotiations, technical operations, new media initiatives, and research.
During his tenure, he helped VERSUS migrate from Outdoor Life Network (OLN), growing from 58 million homes to more than 75 million, earning fastest-growing cable network status for consecutive years. He helped turn OLN and VERSUS into the highest-rated outdoor cable network and was instrumental in bringing a new generation of successful originals to outdoor TV in a variety of formats, including reality, investigative, and character, working with the most respected producers in non-scripted television. Additionally, he was involved in negotiating numerous sports property deals, such as the NHL, UFC, PBR, Indy Car, and various collegiate conferences; acquired product from the NBA, NASCAR, MLB, USOC and NFL Films; worked with major producers of original programming, such as Mark Burnett, Arthur Smith and Craig Piligian; dealt with numerous entertainment, sports, and talent agencies; and worked on programming and production deals with various broadcast and cable entities such as FOX Sports Net, CBS Sports, NBC Sports, and others.
Fein has been recognized with many prestigious industry awards for his achievements during his time at VERSUS including making the exclusive “CableFAX 100” list and “40 Under 40” for both Multichannel News and Sports Business Journal, as well as receiving multiple Sports Emmy Award nominations.
Prior to VERSUS, Fein served as vice president, programming and acquisitions for FOX Sports Net, where he was responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the programming department and execution of the network’s overall strategic programming vision. Additionally, Fein advised FOX’s regional sports networks, FOX’s business development team, and was involved in the creation of FOX’s action sports and lifestyle network, FUEL. Before starting his seven-year period at FOX, he began his career at Rainbow Media/Cablevision where he worked in various roles for a number of their networks.
