Michael Bane Pulling Outdoor Channel out of Colorado

Status
Not open for further replies.

58limited

Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2012
Messages
174
Location
SE Texas
Found this on the Shiloh forum. Sorry if it has been posted already, I did a quick search and it didn't turn up. Michael Bane did this right: he stated his reasons and gave a potential economic impact to the State of Colorado.

"Michael Bane, independent Executive Producer and host of four shows that air on The Outdoor Channel is pulling his production from Colorado because he feels the Colorado Senate is betraying 2nd Amendment rights."

http://www.examiner.com/article/jobs-fleeing-colorado-because-of-Democrat-s-actions

Here is his letter to Republican Senator Steve King of the 7th House District


"Dear Senator King;

I met you yesterday after the so-called "public hearings" on the antigun bills; as I mentioned, I am an Executive Producer for OUTDOOR CHANNEL. I currently have four series in production, included GUN STORIES, the top show on OC, with several additional series in development. My series focus on guns, hunting, shooting and the outdoors. This morning I met with my three Producers, and we made the decision that if these antigun bills become law, we will be moving all of our production OUT of Colorado . We have already cancelled a scheduled filming session for late this month. Obviously, part of this is due to our own commitment to the right to keep and bear arms, but it also reflects 3 lawyers' opinions that these laws are so poorly drafted and so designed to trap otherwise legal citizens into a crime (one of our attorneys referred to them as "flypaper laws") that it is simply too dangerous for us to film here. I can give you chapter and verse on the legal implications if you need, but suffice to say that the first legal opinion was so scary we went out and got two others. Al three attorneys agreed. We are relatively small potatoes in television, but our relocation of production will cost Colorado a little less than a million dollars in 2013. Secondly, we have proudly promoted Colorado in our productions (and have been moving more and more production into the state); now we will do exactly the opposite. What does this mean for Colorado ? The community of television producers is a small one. Last week I had lunch with a major network producer who was looking to locate his new reality series in Colorado . That producer is also a shooter, and the new reality series will now be based out of Phoenix . That lunch cost Colorado over a million in economic impact. Thirdly, according to numbers I received from the National Shooting Sports Foundation (for whom I used to work) yesterday, hunting had an almost $800,000,000 impact on Colorado in 2012, driving as many as 8330 jobs. Next month I will be in Texas meeting with most of the top outdoor/hunting producers, and the Number One agenda item will be Colorado. Already, hunting organizations and statewide hunting clubs around the country are pulling out of Colorado , and we expect this trend to accelerate rapidly. The message we will take to our viewers and listeners is that these proposed laws are so dangerous to hunters and any other person, be she a fisherman or a skier who brings a handgun into the state for self-defense, that we cannot recommend hunting, fishing or visiting Colorado. We reach millions of people, and, quite frankly, we have a credibility that Colorado government officials can no longer match. Colorado Division of Wildlife is already running ads trying to bring more out-of-state hunters to Colorado ...in light of the flood of negative publicity about these proposed laws, I can assure you those ads will fail. We estimate that as many as one-quarter to one-third of out-of-state hunters will desert Colorado in the next 18-24 months, which will quite frankly be a disaster for the hunting industry in Colorado and have a devastating effect on our western and northern communities (certainly like Grand Junction ). This is not a "boycott" in the traditional sense of a centralized, organized operation; rather, it is more of a grassroots decision on where shooters, hunters and other sportsmen are will ing to spend their money. Look at the collapse of the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in February. That venerable multimillion dollar trade show chose to ban modern sporting rifles and standard capacity magazines, and with three weeks it collapsed as all vendors and sponsors pulled out. Colorado is going to pay a huge price for laws that will do nothing. Thank you, sir, for your support.

Best.

Michael Bane

OUTDOOR CHANNEL

[email protected]"
 
Last edited:
Awesome.........I used to live on the Western Slope in a town called, ironically enough, "Rifle".
Back then hunting and guns were everywhere
 
Last edited:
I just realized that my topic title as I wrote it is misleading although the linked news article explains correctly. Michael Bane is pulling HIS Outdoor Channel productions out of Colorado, not all Outdoor Channel programming.
 
Kudos to Mr. Bane. I wonder what impact the recent legislation will also have on the rest of the state's outdoor industry -- I know I won't be returning there for tourism, skiing, camping, fishing, hunting or river rafting, and I'm pretty sure there are more like me who feel the same way ...
 
Originally posted by Old Dog: Kudos to Mr. Bane. I wonder what impact the recent legislation will also have on the rest of the state's outdoor industry -- I know I won't be returning there for tourism, skiing, camping, fishing, hunting or river rafting, and I'm pretty sure there are more like me who feel the same way ...


I think anyone who has changed their Colorado vacation plans over this needs to let them know, and include a guestimate of the money you would have spent there.

I want to get a few of my college buddies together for a hunting trip. My original plan was to go to Colorado, but now I think I'll plan on Wyoming. This trip will be a couple of years in the future but I'm going to send a note telling Colorado legislators why I decided to nix their state from my choice of states to hunt in. I was thinking five or so college buddies so the net economic impact is probably in the neighborhood of $8,000 to $10,000 including outfitters, hotels, meals, rental cars, hunting licenses, etc; although I really have no experience with this so that figure may be wrong.
 
Last edited:
Duely electeds had but one agenda....follow Bloom......they were not interested in ANY dialog other than there own! Rest of us pay for it.
Dan
:banghead:
 
I think anyone who has changed their Colorado vacation plans over this needs to let them know, and include a guestimate of the money you would have spent there.

Sure, I think it's good to do that. However, it will have no impact on those who proposed and voted for those laws. For them, the only thing that matters is that they "feel good" about "having done something". Folks who think like that simply do not care about or understand economic impacts. The only way to resolve this is for the good folks of Colorado to vote these people out of office.
 
Here, do what I just did and tell these folks exactly how much hunting and how much money you plan to spend in Colorado as a result of these new laws.

Colorado Toursim

Colorado Fish and Game

They won't react unless you tell them what you are going to do.....Being passive is not the answer.
 
This is good.
Since we have so many here that belong to the lawyers guild of America,is it possible to expand on what Mr.Bane reffered to as "flypaper laws"?
I find that statement to be quite interesting as it implies too me at least that the law was designed with a snare like provision.
 
I just realized that my topic title as I wrote it is misleading although the linked news article explains correctly. Michael Bane is pulling HIS Outdoor Channel productions out of Colorado, not all Outdoor Channel programming.

Good clarification. Thank you.
 
Voting with our feet and money is one of the best ways to peacefully protest government decisions we don't agree with. I had really wanted to do a high end elk hunt in Colorado. I will take this trip to another state.
 
I sent an email to their Tourism department.

I am a Summit member on Frontier airlines. In 2012 I took 14 round trip flights with plane changes in Denver. I have already cancelled three flights for April/May and have avoided that airport. I am not happy because I really prefer Frontier.

My family of four has been to Colorado for a week every year for the past 11 on ski trips. 2014 will be moved to Utah but it is too late to cancel the trip to Colorado next week.

I have notified Frontier that I will not be a Summit member going forward.

Small potatoes for sure but a dollar is a dollar!
 
I sent an email to their Tourism department.

I am a Summit member on Frontier airlines. In 2012 I took 14 round trip flights with plane changes in Denver. I have already cancelled three flights for April/May and have avoided that airport. I am not happy because I really prefer Frontier.

My family of four has been to Colorado for a week every year for the past 11 on ski trips. 2014 will be moved to Utah but it is too late to cancel the trip to Colorado next week.

I have notified Frontier that I will not be a Summit member going forward.

Small potatoes for sure but a dollar is a dollar!
Good on you. All these small potatoes add up!
 
He posted in the activism forum a while back that he would see out the 2014 elections and then make a decision on moving.
 
My understanding is that there was significant principle photography for Outdoor Channel shows that will now be recorded elsewhere. Lot of multiplier effect from video productions.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top