A lack of funding has turned Scandinavian Channel black.
The 24-hour niche network turned off its satellite feed midnight Tuesday.
Scandinavian Channel -- which had been available on a number of digital systems
and had some analog carriage -- was unsuccessful finding investors for needed
capital.
'We have a sound, well-researched business model, which combines the power of
a video channel with an Internet portal and the support of active community
organizations,' Scandinavian Channel Inc. CEO Dean Ericson said in a prepared
statement.
'We have been pleased this year with the rapid cable-system launches and the
healthy consumer take rates for our a la carte video service. However, we have
been working ourselves out of a financial hole caused by the unexpected slowness
in deployment of the digital platform on cable systems during 1999 and 2000,'
Ericson continued. 'In today's financial climate, there is little tolerance for
businesses that are not profitable in a very short term, no matter their
progress and promise.'
The network -- headed by chairman Trygve Myrhen, former National Cable
Television Association chairman and one-time Providence Journal Co. president --
had been targeting the more than 16 million Americans of Scandinavian ancestry
as a premium a la carte offering at $9.95 per month, as well as through tier
positioning on digital-cable services.
It was the only U.S. network to feature programming from Denmark, Finland,
Iceland, Norway and Sweden, with English subtitles.
Scandinavian Channel -- which recently unveiled a new logo as means to help
burnish its brand identity, and which was aspiring to add more contemporary
programming -- was recently rolled out by AT&T Broadband in San Francisco on
its digital ethnic-programming tier.
The network -- which also was available on Adelphia Communications Corp. and
other MSO digital platforms -- had a base of analog subscribers via small
systems owned by Sjoberg's Cable TV in Minnesota.
International Channel Networks had been serving as Scandinavian Channel's
marketing and distribution agent to cable operators.
