RFD-TV: Patrick Gottsch's Rural Network, From Omaha to Nashville
Profile updated November 2026
RFD-TV is a national cable and satellite television network devoted to agriculture, horses and rural life. Patrick Gottsch, a Nebraska farm kid turned commodity broker and livestock auction broadcaster, launched it on December 1, 2000, as the country's first 24-hour network for agribusiness, equine and rural lifestyle programming. Now based on Nashville's Music Row and owned by his daughters through Rural Media Group, it pairs daily farm news and markets with rodeo, music and classic country shows. This page covers its history, programming and leadership.
| Launched | December 1, 2000 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Patrick Gottsch (1953-2024) |
| Owner | Rural Media Group, Inc. |
| Co-owners | Raquel Gottsch Koehler and Gatsby Gottsch Solheim |
| Headquarters | Nashville, Tennessee, with studios in the Fort Worth Stockyards |
| Sister brands | RFD-TV+, Rural Radio on SiriusXM, FarmHER + RanchHER |
| Official website | RFDTV.com |
History of RFD-TV
Patrick Gottsch grew up on his family's farm in Elkhorn, Nebraska, traded commodities on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and got into broadcasting in 1991 with Superior Livestock Auction, which sold cattle by satellite video. An earlier attempt at a rural channel, Rural Free Delivery Television, found no carriers and ended in bankruptcy, but he tried again. RFD-TV launched on December 1, 2000; Dish Network picked it up that month and DirecTV followed in 2002.
The network began as a nonprofit, a structure the Federal Communications Commission struck down in 2007, after which it became a for-profit company. By February 2015 it reached about 52 million pay-TV households. In 2014 and 2015 Rural Media Group moved its headquarters from Omaha to Music Row in Nashville. Gottsch expanded the company with The Cowboy Channel, The Cowgirl Channel and Rural Radio on SiriusXM, and launched the RFD-TV Now streaming app in March 2020.
Gottsch died on May 18, 2024, at age 70, and his family asked that memorial gifts go to the National FFA Foundation. Leadership passed to his two eldest daughters. In November 2024 Rural Media Group sold The Cowboy Channel, The Cowgirl Channel and Cowboy Channel+ to Teton Ridge, a move Raquel Gottsch Koehler said would let the company focus on RFD-TV as it neared its 25th anniversary.
RFD-TV Today
RFD-TV passed 25 years on the air in December 2025. Rural Media Group says its mission is to challenge perceptions of rural America by showcasing its heritage and the resilience of its people, and it claims a reach of more than 50 million people nationwide. The channel is carried by Dish, DirecTV, Sling TV, DirecTV Stream and cable systems including Charter, Cox and Mediacom, and streams on RFD-TV+.
Programming partnerships shift over time: Farm Journal, for example, ended distribution of Machinery Pete and other programs on RFD-TV in April 2025.
What RFD-TV Is Airing Now
Farm news and markets
Daily agricultural market reports, including Market Day Report, and the Rural Evening News anchor the schedule, with news sections on Washington policy, labor and immigration, rural health, weather and world events.
Equine and rural lifestyle
Horse shows, ranch and rodeo programming and rural lifestyle series remain core, along with the FarmHER + RanchHER brand celebrating women in agriculture.
Music and classic television
Country, Southern gospel and other music programs, plus classic reruns such as Hee Haw, give the channel its distinctive small-town feel.
RFD-TV Editors and Staff
RFD-TV's about page lists its leadership:
- Raquel Gottsch Koehler - Co-Owner; leads FarmHER + RanchHER
- Gatsby Gottsch Solheim - Co-Owner
- Patrick Gottsch - Founder (2000), died 2024
Koehler brings a background in media, marketing and communications and has shaped the company's long-term strategy, while Solheim's finance and legal expertise helped structure the company and grow its digital presence.
Who Watches RFD-TV
RFD-TV's audience is rural and small-town America: farmers and ranchers checking the markets, horse owners and rodeo fans, and older viewers who come for the music and the classic shows. Its satellite carriage made it a fixture in farm homes beyond the reach of cable.
That audience is large and spread out. The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 1.9 million farms, 95% of them family farms, and the Census of Agriculture's county data show how much of that agriculture sits far from major media markets.
RFD-TV viewers grew up on Hee Haw's cornfield gags, so they already know that rural folks perfected the deadpan one-liner. farm.FM carries that tradition online with farm satire written for people who know a feedlot from a feed store. Horse people, cattle folks and crop farmers can all find farm humor, ranch humor and farm jokes there between market reports.
If the name is new to you, farm.FM is the nation's first satirical farm site, with Tractor Tunes country music for farmers on the side. One of its regular writers keeps a whole archive of stories like that.
RFD-TV Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- RFD-TV: About us - Rural Media Group's mission, brands and owners.
- Wikipedia: RFD-TV - the network's history and carriage.
- RFD-TV: A tribute to Patrick Gottsch - the founder's life and career.
- USDA NASS: 2022 Census of Agriculture release - national farm counts and family farm share.
- USDA NASS: Census of Agriculture - state and county data on rural agriculture.
RFD-TV FAQ
Who founded RFD-TV?
Patrick Gottsch, a Nebraska native, launched RFD-TV on December 1, 2000. He died in May 2024.
Who owns RFD-TV now?
Rural Media Group, co-owned by Gottsch's daughters Raquel Gottsch Koehler and Gatsby Gottsch Solheim.
Where is RFD-TV based?
Nashville, Tennessee, with production studios in the Fort Worth Stockyards. It moved from Omaha in 2014 and 2015.
Does RFD-TV still own The Cowboy Channel?
No. Rural Media Group sold The Cowboy Channel and The Cowgirl Channel to Teton Ridge in November 2024.
A quarter century after its launch, RFD-TV remains rural America's own television channel, built by a farm kid who believed the countryside deserved a network.