 Over the next few years the company laid the groundwork for the establishment of a channel from extensive qualitative and quantitative market research, to hiring Newberger Greenberg and Associates, the media consulting firm who did the business plans for The Golf Channel.In 2001, Jerry Solomon, husband of Nancy Kerrigan, joined the network.By 2003, a number of other single sports channels, including Black Belt TV, the Ice Channel, NFL Network and Tennis Channel, joined TFN in looking to launch on the new digital tier of cable.