Satellite News Channel
CNN Headline News (assumed SNC's subscriber base on systems that carried the channel) |
Satellite News Channel (SNC) was an American short-lived news-based cable television channel that was operated as a joint venture between the ABC Video Enterprises division of American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. (a.k.a. ABC) and the Group W Satellite Communications subsidiary of Westinghouse Broadcasting Company (a.k.a. Group W). Designed as a satellite-delivered cable network, the channel is best remembered as the first 24-hour news cable competition to the Cable News Network (CNN). SNC's headquarters were based in the New York City suburb of Stamford, Connecticut.[1]
The channel's format consisted of 18-minute-long rotating newscasts with the remaining time in each half-hour block allocated for a regional news summary; this lent credence to SNC's slogan, "Give us 18 minutes, we'll give you the world," which was derived through Group W's experience in all-news radio. Each 18-minute national newscast featured content gathered from both in-house newsgathering and reporting staffs and reports sourced from international television networks that maintained content agreements with ABC/Group W to supply stories for the channel.[2][3] The regional summaries were sectioned by "zones", and often originated from either ABC affiliates (such as KOMO-TV in Seattle) or Group W stations (such as KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh).
History
ABC Video Enterprises and
Satellite News Channel launched on June 21, 1982. During that time, it provided competition for CNN, the first cable network to do so at the time.[citation needed][5] The network utilized footage from ABC News for its reports and maintained seven newsgathering and reporting crews based in Washington, D.C. At launch, Satellite News Channel compensated participating cable operators to carry the channel, contrary to the standard of the period in which cable channels charged a nominal fee per subscriber for carriage.[6] Despite this model, SNC had difficulty obtaining clearance from cable systems.[5] The network and its satellite transponder space was eventually purchased by CNN's corporate parent, the Turner Broadcasting System.[4] Satellite News Channel ceased operations on October 27, 1983, after sixteen months on the air; most local cable systems replaced SNC with either CNN or, more commonly, CNN Headline News.
Notable staff
Reporters
- Ken Alvord
- Dan Breinholt
- Lyn Brown
- Charles Crawford
- Amanda Davis
- Solon Gray
- Jose Grinan
- Carol Iovanna
- R.D. Sahl
- Deborah Stone
- Laurel Ornish
- Jackson Bain
Field correspondents
- Jon Bascom
- Lou Cioffi
- Andy Gastmeyer
- Carolyn Gorman
- Mike Ritz
- Joe Sanchez
- Steve Taylor
BusinessWeek
- Kathleen Champion
- Jeff Simmons
Meteorologists
- Keith Eichner
- Todd Gross
- Alan Kasper
- Jeff Pylant
- Bob Richards
- Arnie Rosen
Sportscasters
- Jim Brinson
- Dan Carney
- Jim Donovan
- Marc Goldberg
- Frank Gorin
- Larry Sacknoff
- Dave Sims
Entertainment
- Joe Ricci
Graphic Designers
- Billy Sunshine
- Cathe Ishino
- Judy Rosenfeld
- Daryl Deangelo
- Janet Scabrini
- Nat Zimmerman
- Martin Hara
- Robert E. Moran
- Debra Klein
- Maureen Nappi
- Jan Helsel
After the closure – successor channels
For a brief time after SNC shut down, its theme music was used by fellow Connecticut cable network ESPN.
Starting in 1989, All News Channel (ANC) was an American satellite television news channel owned by CONUS Communications, a joint venture between Viacom and Hubbard Broadcasting. The channel was carried mainly on direct-broadcast satellite provider DirecTV (and prior to that, USSB, which was folded into DirecTV in 1999). All News Channel's programming was also syndicated to television stations across the United States. The channel was headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota. The channel ceased broadcasting on September 30, 2002.
In 1996, ABC revealed plans to launch a 24-hour news channel but discontinued them after
In 2004, ABC News returned to the 24-hour news market with
In 2013 ABC News partnered with
See also
- List of United States cable and satellite television networks
- Westinghouse Broadcasting
References
- ^ Slocum, Bill (June 15, 1997). "Cable TV Finds A Stamford Home". New York Times. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
- ^ a b Clark, Kenneth R. (August 21, 1981). "Ted Turner responds to network challenge". Ellensburg Daily Record. Vol. 80, no. 198. UPI. p. 13. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
- ^ One-Two Punch, Time.com, August 24, 1981, archived from the original on December 7, 2008, retrieved July 30, 2006
- ^ ISBN 1587981955. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
- ^ a b c Ariens, Chris (May 7, 2012). "ABC News and Univision to Launch 24-Hour News Channel". TVNewser. Ad Week Network. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
- ^ "Cable TV becoming "gold mine' industry". Sunday Star-News. Vol. 52, no. 37. N.Y. Times News Service. May 16, 1982. p. 4B. Retrieved September 12, 2016.