I was recently reflecting on my four decades in the outdoor media and how things have changed for me. In the past, as an outdoor writer, I would get magazine assignments months in advance and do my best to present information that would be timely down the road. Today I write a weekly column for The Denver Post that is based on what we covered on my Saturday radio show. Most readers now get my columns or articles delivered to their phone or tablet as soon as they are published and social media allows us to deliver content live while we are in the field.
While the way we receive our information has changed, one thing has not. People still want good content. The best content is not always what’s live today. I did 22 seasons on cable television and many of our most-watched shows were reruns. Outdoor television can take days in the field taping and many hours editing to create the end product. The goal was to produce informative programming that would be valuable content for some time going forward. When I started, people watched television by appointment. Then came “on-demand programming” and the DVR. As we progressed, people cared less and less about what time and how the content was delivered. Now they watch on their phone or tablet or even an Internet-ready TV. The consumer wants to search for and watch programming on their schedule. Movies on Netflix are a great example.
Sean Luxton from Outdoor Sportsman’s Group joined me on the radio a couple weeks ago to talk about one of the newest trends in outdoor television, “My Outdoor TV”. MOTV is part of the same group that includes The Outdoor Channel, The Sportsman’s Channel, Altitude Television and the World Fishing Network. The group, having access to all this content from many of the top names in the outdoor community, applied the Netflix concept. After the shows have aired on traditional television, they make them available to search and stream or download. This was the birth of MOTV.
Like Netflix, MOTV is a subscription service. MOTV features local and national content like Chad LaChance on “Fishful Thinker” and “The Best of Fishing with Terry Wickstrom” to international programming featuring many of the biggest names in outdoor media. There are thousands of episodes on fishing, hunting, shooting and outdoor adventure and all of the content is searchable. Search for walleye fishing, you’ll get a list of episodes on that topic. Watch them now or download them and take them with you to watch on an airplane or at a “fish camp” that has no Wi-Fi service. You can try a free one week trial of MOTV by visiting https://www.myoutdoortv.com/ .
The outdoor media has changed. The amount of information available is endless. There is no reason not to find the type of content you are looking for and enjoy it on your schedule.
To listen to my complete interview with Sean Luxton click the link below.
https://soundcloud.com/1043thefan/sean-luxton-terry-wickstrom-outdoors-82617
Don’t forget you can get your outdoor questions answered by sending them to terrywickstromoutdoors@gmail.com and you might win a gift card from Sportsman’s Warehouse.
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