YouTube Taps Tony Hawk, Adds New Sports Channels

YouTube, in their current quest to make the site more channel-oriented, has announced a new set of channels that deal with an already-popular topic on YouTube – action sports.

The four new channels are Alli Sports, Network A, Red Bull Channel and RIDE. Here’s how Youtube describes them:

Alli Sports: Whether you want tips from your favorite athlete on how to pull off their signature trick, a behind the curtain look into the lives of the biggest and fastest rising stars in the sports, or news and highlights from the industries most insightful analysts, The Alli Show, Step by Step, Inside AlliSports, AWSM on Alli and Frends Crew, are just a few of the shows on Alli Sports that will keep you up to speed on the latest and greatest moves and news in the industry.

Network A: Network A shares some of the most amazing performances and personalities in the history of action sports. Want to see the best tricks and segments from pros like Paul Rodriguez, Ryan Sheckler, Shaun White and Kelly Slater? You’ve come to the right place. In the coming weeks, new shows, new Channels, and an unprecedented level of access to action sports pros will be added.

Red Bull: The Red Bull Channel is bringing 13 new original episodic series that will chronicle the competition and daily lives of the world’s best action sports athletes including urban mountain biker and YouTube celebrity, Danny MacAskill, skateboarding pro Ryan Sheckler, action sports phenom Travis Pastrana and big wave surfer Jamie O’Brien. You’ll also be able to find new episodes of other popular series starting with the first episode of Livin’ Louie Vito that explores the life of professional snowboarder Louie Vito.

RIDE: Brought to you by Tony Hawk, RIDE is a 24-hour Channel devoted to the skateboarding lifestyle that will feature Hawk, Skatepark of Tampa, Jamie Thomas and Lance Krall among others. On “Tony Hawk’s Dissent,” subscribers will have behind-the-scenes access as Tony hangs out with different celebrities. Viewers can also get into the game with shows like “Shredit Cards,” where skaters upload their own skate videos and earn shopping passes based on the degree of difficulty and “One in a Million,” where amateur skateboarders will compete to become sponsored.

In the fall of 2011, YouTube announced that they would be expanding their channels by bringing in well-known personalities from various fields like music, sports, film, and comedy.

December’s homepage redesign put more emphasis on channels and made it easy for users to subscribe to their favorite content streams.