Soul of the South, an African-American diginet that has struggled from the start, is strongly considering pulling the plug two years after launch, according to a story in Arkansas Business. Complicating matters is a $2 million lawsuit from WMDE in Washington, stemming from a contract dispute.
The publication obtained a memo from CEO Doug McHenry to his board.
“It’s time for the board to consider winding down the company’s operations,” McHenry wrote. “Currently it doesn’t have sufficient resources to continue to operate and given the legal environment it is unlikely to attract sufficient funding to work out a plan for success. Therefore the board must make a decision to wind down operations and do so in the best manner to preserve shareholder value and company assets.”
Based in Little Rock, the channel needs $250,000-$500,000 to stay afloat for the next 3-4 months.
Soul of the South initially planned to launch in the first quarter of 2012, then shot for fall 2012 before going live in the spring of 2013. TV vets Edward Avent and Larry Morton were in the launch team. McHenry said at the time: "There are many prominent African-Americans who hail from the South and we plan to involve them as integral parts of our programming strategy. This is an important content component of Soul of the South and we are proud to give voice to these talented Americans."
