FORT WORTH, Texas — Patrick Gottsch, the founder of Rural Media Group, died Saturday at 70, according to a post on the Cowboy Channel's website. Rural Media Group is the parent company of RFD-TV, The Cowboy Channel based in the Fort Worth Stockyards, The Cowgirl Channel, and Rural Radio 147.
"He always thought outside the box and wasn’t afraid to introduce new ideas that would grow the rural and western way of life," the post read. "At 70 years old, he continued to live life to the fullest and packed more experiences into a week than most people do in a lifetime. This week in Fort Worth, Patrick enthusiastically cheered on Women’s Rodeo World Championships, The Kid Rock Rock ‘N Rodeo, and the Professional Bull Riders World Finals."
Gottsch grew up on his family’s farm in Nebraska and attended Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, according to RFD-TV's website.
After college, he moved to Chicago in 1977, where he worked as a commodity broker on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange until 1982. Patrick then returned to his home state of Nebraska, where he started E.T. Installations, a company that sold and installed home satellites. Along with Birdview Satellite Broadcast and Communication Association (SBCA), E.T. Installations introduced over 2,000 satellites into the Midwest and was recognized as the nation’s largest privately-owned home satellite retailer in 1987.
He moved to Fort Worth in 1991, where he served as the Director of Sales for Superior Livestock Auction from 1992 to 1996. Superior Livestock Auction was the first to introduce satellite video marketing to the livestock industry and has since grown to become the largest livestock auction enterprise in the country.
He then dedicated himself full-time to creating a 24-hour rural TV network and launched Rural Free Delivery Television (RFD-TV) on DISH Network in December 2000. It expanded to DIRECTV in March 2002, with major cable agreements quickly following, including Mediacom, Charter, Optimum, Suddenlink, Comcast, AT&T/U-verse, Time Warner Cable, Bright House, and Cox. Now, RFD-TV is available in more than 50 million homes nationwide. Rural Media Group. subsequently expanded to include RFD-TV The Magazine (2003), RFD HD (2008), RURAL TV (2009), RURAL RADIO (2013), and most recently The Cowboy Channel, launched in 2017.
Headquartered in the Fort Worth Stockyards, the Cowboy Channel features a variety of “live” coverage from major western events and rodeos across the country.
Patrick married his wife, Angie, in October 2017, and they have a daughter, Rose. He has three daughters: Raquel, Gatsby, and Rose. Raquel serves as CEO of The Cowboy Channel, and Gatsby serves as General Counsel for Rural Media Group.
