DENVER – The Ski Channel plans to launch Christmas Day, with its on-demand mountain sports programming available in more than 15 million homes.

The Ski Channel Chairman and CEO Steve Bellamy had initially hoped to launch the channel earlier this year but said the later launch date allowed the channel to gain more content and availability.

One recent deal allows the channel to offer famous ski films from the Warren Miller Entertainment library, Bellamy said Monday.

“Having classic Warren Miller movies like 'Steep and Deep' and 'Endless Winter' on our air at launch is like a new sports network launching with the Super Bowl on day one,” Bellamy said.

The Ski Channel has long-term broadcast rights to The Freeskiing World Tour, The World Freeskiing Championships, The Subaru US Freeskiing Series, the North Face Masters Series of snowboarding and the World Heli Championships in Mt. Cook, New Zealand.

Its programming will be available free to certain Verizon's FiOS TV, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and DirecTV customers.

Olympic gold medal skier Jonny Moseley is an investor, spokesman, analyst, instructor, advisory staff member and on-air talent for The Ski Channel.

Bellamy previously founded The Tennis Channel, established in 2003.