On Thursday, Saskatchewan-based Ag-Com Productions announced the official launch of The Rural Channel, a new specialty channel devoted to rural and agricultural lifestyle and news programming.

Ag-Com Productions has been producing rural-focused programming for other channels since 1983, and received a greenlight from the CRTC to launch the channel in August, 2008.

The Rural Channel is targeted at families living in rural communities, as well as workers in the agricultural industry, but the channel’s founder, Helen Wilson, says that it has also performed well with urban audiences.

With a focus on agricultural news, the channel’s lineup features series like US Farm Report and AgDay, as well as the original series Prairie Farm Report, which Ag-Com produces in-house. It also carries more female-targeted equine programming, including shows like Monty Roberts’ Backstage Pass, Horsing Around New Zealand, Jack Lyons, The Parelli Program and programming from FEI Equestrian World, the global governing body of horse sport.

Additionally, the channel’s lineup features the DIY auto improvement series, Motorz, and in-house productions like Machinery of the Past and two- to seven-minute interstitials from channel contributors that focus on various topics.

The Rural Channel is currently carried by Shaw Direct and Eastlink, and reaches about one million homes across the country. Wilson says Ag-Com also plans to build a stable of original programming – no pun intended! – as it grows.

The channel is currently being promoted across Ag-Com’s digital and social media properties, as well as by Shaw Direct and Eastlink on their digital properties and local TV channels.

From Media in Canada