RFD-TV bucks trends, features programming for rural viewers - Entrepreneur Generations

Many television networks cater to younger and suburban or urban audiences, but RFD-TV bucks the trend by wooing older, rural viewers. The family-owned channel, which launched in 2000, reaches 52 million homes and has an avid following.

Founder Patrick Gottsch told The Washington Post's Emily Yahr that the network's mission is to "reconnect city with country" and says that rural people often feel left out by the lack of programming geared toward them. In the 1960s, he said shows like Gunsmoke, Petticoat Junction, and Green Acres were popular, but these days "I think it's hard to connect any show with rural America anymore."

It's interesting to note the network's strategy: where other networks run programs that present rural life as an entertaining curiosity to metro viewers (Duck Dynasty, The Simple Life, Alaskan Bush People), RFD-TV features programming it knows rural viewers love, such as Ag Day and Market Report for farmers, popular reruns for older viewers like Hee Haw and The Lone Ranger, and original programming like FarmHer, about women in agriculture. RFD has also branched out with the launch of the Cowboy Channel in July.

Though RFD-TV was cut from Verizon's FIOS TV lineup in early 2016, in late 2016 the channel was included in AT&T's DirectTV Now line-up. "RFD-TV was in the basic package — with ESPN, Disney, CNN, Fox News, MTV and USA and everything else, which makes us real proud," Gottsch told Yahr. "I think it’s a reflection that programming devoted to rural content and senior citizens does have a place going forward in media." It was also recently announced that RFD-TV will be available in U.S. House of Representative members' offices.

from The Rural Blog http://ift.tt/2jM7MAZ RFD-TV bucks trends, features programming for rural viewers - Entrepreneur Generations

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