The Outdoor Channel, the self-described ?huntin' and fishin'? network, last week signed an affiliate agreement with Comcast Communications that could expand the network's potential distribution by 8.5 million homes. Outdoor is currently available to 35 million cable and satellite households.

Appropriately enough, Outdoor's agreement with Comcast is of the ?hunting license? variety, which means that rather than guarantee carriage on all of its systems, Comcast has given Outdoor the go-ahead to negotiate with any of its systems around the country. Outdoor has already signed an analog deal with Comcast's system in Little Rock, Ark., for instance.

Though he wouldn't specify an amount, Outdoor Channel CEO Andy Dale characterized the fee that Comcast will be paying as ?modest? in a ?multiyear? deal and said that his network would not be paying any upfront launch fees or other inducements to which smaller networks ? especially ones that are independently owned like Outdoor ? often concede in negotiating carriage.

Comcast was the only top ten MSO on which Outdoor Channel had not, in its six years of existence, procured carriage. According to Dale, the effort to do so was significantly hampered because Comcast owns Outdoor Life Network, an Outdoor competitor. A Comcast spokesperson declined to comment.

To Dale's mind, OLN has a very different take on outdoor pursuits than the Outdoor Channel. To begin with, says Dale, his network would never have programmed the Louis Vuitton Yachting Series, which OLN just announced.

That particular acquisition is emblematic of OLN's focus on somewhat higher-end adventure activities, whereas Outdoor is much more concerned with basic fishing and hunting. ?We've inherited the mantle of TNN,? says Dale, referring to the newly pop-culture-oriented Viacom network which, in its previous, less general-interest incarnation, would intersperse its country-music and bull-riding programs with shows about bass fishing and deer hunting.

Dale thinks at least one Comcast system has no choice but to sign up his network. ?They've got one in Tupelo, Miss. ? home of Elvis ? and that's one place where they better have the channel with bass fishing on it or they're going to have trouble.?

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