Solent TV: Gone Bust

They closed down today, gone bust I'm told (Sky EPG 219)

Solent TV? Is this one of those really local channels that broadcasts to about 12 people?

EDIT: from Wikipedia

Shutdown
At the start of 2007, the station was still losing money but said that it was on course to reduce its losses dramatically since its move to Sky and the dramatic increase in revenue should have taken it into profit by 2008. However, a statement on the Solent TV website on Thursday 24th May 2007 read:

Solent TV will stop broadcasting tonight (Thursday) as the company ceases trading because it’s insolvent. The channel, which started terrestrial transmissions on the Isle of Wight in October 2002, expanded across Europe on the Sky satellite network in January 2007. Financial problems four months later mean company directors have decided to shut down the TV station despite talks with potential investors. Solent TV’s sister organisations, Island Volunteers, Community Solutions and DV Media, are also ceasing to trade. All employees are being made redundant.

Solent TV’s news programme ‘Solent Tonight’ will be on-air for a final time at 7.00pm tonight (Thursday 24 May). All the team here would like to say a massive thank you to all our viewers for their kind messages of support over the past five years. We hope you can join us at 7.00pm tonight to say farewell. This content has been copied due to doubts about how long the Solent TV website will remain operational after broadcast ceases.

No Great loss to the Line up!

They were probably still better than ITV1 though

Anyone here ever watch it?

Solent showed material from Horse and Country Television for a short while, but the impression I got was that Solent were so inept at transmission that H&C pulled the contract pretty soon after launch because Solent were giving H&C a bad name.

Most of Horse and Country's material was either shown in the wrong ratio or at such a low bitrate that the quality was compromised beyond all recognition.

Horse & Country will launch on their own Sky channel in July and I think you'll find their own playout will be a thousand times better than Solent ever managed for them.

A lot of people will say that Solent got exactly what they deserved.

Yes, now and again, mainly out of morbid curiosity really. AIUI it was quite popular on the Island.

Yes, but only during the short appearance of Horse and Country Television.

While I'm here, this might be of interest.

There's a channel called Horse & Country !

Regular devotees of my posts on here will know that I often slightly miss the correct description of things on purpose, just to raise a bijou laughette.

I, therefore, refer to it as Horse and Cart Television, just to upset those of my friends who happen to be associated with it.

Shame to hear that News as it was looking that sticking RSL's on Sky seemed to be the way foward for their successes. It's done wonders for Channel M.

Does this mean now that the RSL Licence will be readvertised or will Ofcom not bother....

I don't think Ofcom ever pro-actively advertise television RSLs.

It's the same as radio RSLs, in that you have to apply, then they decide whether they'll give you a licence.

So, I assume, if nobody else applies for an RSL for that area, then the airwaves will stay silent.

It lasted longer than MKTV (SKY ch227) which transmitted its live news and features programming for two months before going off air and is currently transmitting profit generated programmes whether its their own MK Shop which charges a bomb for its products and customer services or rebroadcasting the babestation type channels during the day or psyhic telly at night.