Yes, for everyone who has been waiting for a network devoted to nothing but skiiing (I'm one to talk; if I had The Tennis Channel I'd watch it 24/7), this is your lucky day. Or, to be more exact, some day in 2008 will be your lucky day.

That's when The Ski Channel launches. It's a new network devoted to, um, skiiing. I can't tell if it's going to be a regular network or something else, because it is described as a "network with distribution on video-on-demand and multimedia platforms." OK.

I was wondering how they'll fill the time with just skiiing, but they have that covered. From the article:

Those of you who are lucky enough to own an HDTV should check out Planet Earth tonight on Discovery Channel. I keep seeing previews for it today as I absent-mindedly watch a marathon of Deadliest Catch and it looks stunning. The series is basically Earth Science, featuring all sorts of unique animals and plants, and examining various landscapes.

Besides the fact that it looks beautiful, the story behind it is almost as impressive. The miniseries took five years to make and photographers put their lives on the line more than once to document the extreme living conditions on this planet.