Among the many questionable sources from which Premier League clubs have derived their income - payday loans; a Russian oligarch protecting his privatised wealth; a Thai prime minister accused of human rights abuses; Sports Direct - we can now add a TV channel which openly encourages blood sports and trophy hunting.
Arsenal's majority shareholder Stan Kroenke has launched a new TV channel - it went live in the UK over the weekend - entitled My Outdoor TV, described by those who back the channel as the "Netflix of the hunting world".
The channel is owned by Outdoor Sportsman Group, part of Kroenke Sport Entertainment, and will show hunting programmes that follow rich hunters slaughtering animals including elephants, lions, and myriad other endangered species. It will also mix it up with cooking shows giving examples of how to cook a recently-hunted animal, along with offering tutorials on how best to hunt. (Hint: be rich and have a total lack of conscience and perspective).
The channel has defended their programming to the Independent:
MOTV will present ethical, fair chase hunting and as long as it’s legal it will be on there. If you like hunting elephants, there will be legal elephant hunts, ethical elephant hunts, shown in that context.
I’m sure people won’t like all the content on MOTV, but it won’t be censored. On every film there’s an explanation of what hunting does for conservation and the local community.
The idea that hunting contributes to the local community is strongly disputed, with the National Geographic citing a number of sources which claim that only 3% of revenue from trophy hunting goes back into the community, and is dwarfed by tourism figures from those travelling to see these animals in the wildlife.
The notion that hunters are targeting older animals, so as to kill them off after they have made a sufficient contribution to the gene pool, rely on age verification after the animal has been killed, so is difficult to enforce. It is also counter-evolutionary, in that it can pick off the strongest animal in a pack, which would otherwise live long live contributing to the gene pool.
The channel costs, by the way: it's $9.99/£7.60 a month.
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