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Shortest lived TV channel
Darren Lethem
Posts: 61,692 Forum Member
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We have seen many channels come and many channels go on the EPG over the years, and it got me thinking. Which TV channel actually had the shortest lifespan ?
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The original ITV Digital which brought some football clubs close to bankruptcy
The Weather Channel
ITV News Channel (ITV wouldn't fund it any more)
What was the channel with the News Bunny and Topless Darts (female I hasten to add) ?
I'm sure there are more but can't think of any at the moment
Actually it was a "channel" with no real name that lasted about 3 or 4 weeks around 1995.
What it consisted of was American programming from Sky One and was shown for a portion of the day on one of the other Sky channels not being used during those times. It may have been one of the movie channels.
It was not publicised. In the mornings you would simply turn to that transponder and see a list of programmes to follow. It may have only been on weekdays too but at the time it was worth watching. Very short lived.
Granada Talk TV only lasted about 11 months before they pulled the plug.
WB-TV they hyped to death and that didn't even launch at all!
Sound TV ?
Didn't that become Information TV or something ?
Also what about Vibe TV (I think) which consisted of 2 or 3 programmes about some wannabe pop star, IIRC financed by her sugar daddy boyfriend ?
The ITV News Channel lasted for four years and the channel with the News Bunny was Live TV which lasted for a number of years on cable but was rehashed for Sky with all its old programming reused and didnt last long.
One potential winner could be the original Sky 2 back in 1996. It lasted for one calendar year, with programming nabbed from Sky One with extra new programming for 2.
Used to love that - Bobby Charlton's football scrapbook with Dickie Davies
"A pint of bitter was 10p, Slade topped the charts and David Coleman was your commentator"
Classic
Im sure one of the Pop/Tiny Pop +1 channels lasted a few weeks before changing into a music channel.
There was a rival to Sky Box Office in the early days of Sky Digital called U: Direct, that showed all kinds of movies from 99p upwards.
Nick at Nite, this was advertised loads along with WBTV and Comedy Channel. But never happened. It was shame that WBTV never launched.
Taste CFN, that closed within months.
CNX, this was a good channel but lasted months because it later became Jetix.
The Money Channel, this ceased because of financial difficulties. How ironic :rolleyes:
FilmFour Extreme and World.
Game Network.
London TV
Solent TV
Nuts TV
Sky Soap
Sticking with Chart Show TV channels, Scuzz +1 launched on a Monday and was gone by the Wednesday. I think they were perhaps under contract to launch it as Scuzz and then could reuse it for something else. There was also a Flaunt +1 which lasted a bit longer but soon become another POP kids channel.
Sky 2 only lasted a year before being replaced by the National Geographic Channel. Granada Talk did indeed last 11 months, and the final day's programmes were replaced by a Sky News simulcast, due to Princess Diana's death. Both closed on 31st August 1997.
P-Rock, a music channel on Sky
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-Rock