Country United States Owner The Tube Media Corp. Launch date 2004 | Availability Defunct Founded 2006 Parent organization The Tube Media Corp. | |
Type Digital television network
Cable television network (Music) Dissolved October 1, 2007 (2007-10-01) | ||
The Tube Music Network was an American digital multicast television network. The network was a wholly owned subsidiary of The Tube Media Corp. (Grey Market: TUBM), an independent company that was founded by David Levy in 2003. The Tube focused classic and modern music videos in a format similar to the original format of cable networks MTV and VH1, prior to those networks' shift towards long-form entertainment programming. The network also aired occasional commercials and public service announcements, as well as three hours of educational and informational programming (as mandated by the Federal Communications Commission) on Saturday mornings.
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The network was carried on free-to-air satellite television, the digital subchannels of select broadcast television stations, and the digital tiers of cable television providers. The network's president and founder was Les Garland, a veteran of MTV and VH1.
Affiliates
The Tube was initially available primarily in markets with stations operated by Raycom Media. According to a March 2006 article in The New York Times, Tribune Broadcasting announced that it would start carrying The Tube on its stations that summer. However, it had already begun to be carried on digital subchannels of Tribune-owned stations in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia. The network was also carried on WLVI in Boston, which was sold by Tribune to Sunbeam Television in late December 2006.
Equity Broadcasting Corporation distributed the network's programming free-to-air on Galaxy 10R Ku-band satellite for carriage by some of the individual low-power televisions that it owned in various U.S. cities.
Sinclair Broadcast Group would sign an affiliation agreement to carry The Tube as well, announcing on March 23, 2006 that it would start carrying the network on many of the station group's outlets. That relationship stopped on January 1, 2007, in a dispute involving FCC requirements for digital subchannels.
The FCC ruled that in addition to the main analog channels, each digital subchannel would also be required to run the government-mandated three hours of educational and informational programming per week, as well as any Emergency Alert System tests and bulletins. The Tube would air the animal-and-music program Wildlife Jams to meet the E/I requirements. The rules would later be changed, requiring the main channel to air more E/I programming in relation to how many subchannels that the station operated and how much "free programming" they offered.
Suspension of operations
Per a statement on The Tube's website, the network announced that it was suspending operations effective October 1, 2007, though some stations stopped carrying the network earlier. According to the statement, "financial limitations ultimately contributed to its incapacitated state". Many stations carrying the network were informed to direct viewers to their website for further information, and several stations began searching for content to replace the network over-the-air and on cable providers.
Final song
The last song played on the network was Alabama 3's "Woke Up This Morning" (the Chosen One Mix). The song finished exactly at 12:00 a.m. Eastern/11:00 p.m. Central with a black screen. This might have been done on purpose by the network as the HBO series The Sopranos ended in a similar fashion; The Sopranos used the song as their opening theme song for the duration of its run.