Closed TV channels you miss.

[themidnightlore]

Back with another thread, this time about closed TV channels. There's anything that do you miss?
I have a few of those, and I'll tell you why I miss them.

- AXN Italy (+ AXN Sci-FI Italy): Italy had it's AXN from 2005 to 2017, and from 2010, AXN Sci-FI was added to be its compainion. Then, something between Sony and Sky happened, with the latter canning the channels and the former going on test their luck on the Italian DTT, with opening an Italian version of POP and Cine Sony, aka Sony Movies, but stealing the name from that Spanish language movie channel they have in the USA. (Spoiler, the plan backfired quickly, with Cine Sony being the second shortest living Sony channel they ever had. The first place is held by Sony Crime Channel 2, lasting only seven months).
TBH, I miss AXN. A lot. With the Italian one dying, AXN Sci-FI also died, as the Italian one was the last one to exist.

- Sony Spin: Sony Spin was something that Sony had in Latin America from 2011 to 2014, born from the ashes of the local Animax. It may have been a gigantic catastrophe that not even the same Sony could handle, it may have killed Locomotion's legacy, but it got a killer graphical set.
I discovered of its existence way after it got closed, in 2017. And since then, I'm quite invested in it.

- Sony Crime Channel: Sony Crime was born under an unlucky star, as for make it start, Sony went to close Sony Channel. It started good, but it fizzed out very quickly. At the end, it became a zombie channel. It lasted from 2018 to 2020.
Yet, I have a fascination over it.
I just feel a little bitter that it could have closed a week after truTV UK was launched, as that closed down six days after Sony Crime blew it's first birthday candle. it would have been quite ironic. Considering I still think over that guy that said to have seen truTV UK bumpers on Sony Crime on its last day of life...

- Nolife: Nolife was a little indipendent french channel that existed from 2007 to 2018. It was on many cable tv and IPTV services in France and it was a channel about Japanese things like anime and videogames.
If not wrong, it closed down for economical difficulties.

- Voyage: Voyage had a long life, lasting from 2005 1996 (I don't know from where 2005 came) to 2020. it was a victim of Disney's cutting of linear channels for Disney+. It was a channel that showed travel documentaries, and it did that until it's last day. Disney gained it with it's buyout of Fox, as it was a Fox channel before that.
A bummer that it had to close, as I don't even think its content got moved to Disney+. TBH, Voyage was a channel I always wished to see on Sky Italia.

- Horror Channel Italy: Did you know that Italy used to have its own Horror Channel? While it still exists in UK, the italian one died in 2015, when Sky Italia dropped all the AMC Networks channels. Horror's closure still remains in my mind thanks a "trolling" they attemped to do on its last day, saying they would air Fear the Walking Dead. Obviously, it never happened.

- Studio Universal Italy: Studio Universal started in Italy (I think it was the first even Studio Universal ever opened?) originally on Stream back in 1998. It closed a first time in 2008. Then it came back in 2009 on Mediaset Premium, just for close again in 2018.
A giant disappointment.

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

Aside from the obvious ones (as in Disney Channel UK and Disney XD UK, though I count Disney+ as a continuation of them), I miss Cartoon Network Too and Toonami because while I understand why Toonami merged into CN Too and why CN Too was relaunched as Cartoon Network +1, I liked it better when there was four main Cartoon Network channels aimed outside a preschool audience as in CN, Boomerang, Toonami and CN Too.

 

[BlooCNBoy02]

My list:

1) Jetix. This was the channel where my fictional love with Pucca began, as this was my favorite cartoon from that channel since I was 5 years old. I even played a Flash game from that series, which was called Pucca Pursuit. The 2005 idents were really badass! But unfortunately, when it got replaced by Disney Channel in 2009 (I live in Hungary), it gradually shifted its focus to live-action series and to a teen audience. And what is even worse? Jetix's worldwide replacement, Disney XD, never launched in Central Europe (apart from Poland and Germany)!

2) BBC Prime. I first saw this channel back in 2006, when the "fireworks" idents were still used. I remember BBC Learning and its handback to BBC Prime as well. Sometime later, I saw the "circles" idents, firstly the "drum" sting, and instead of BBC Learning it had a CBeebies block. I watched its morning children's programs (later became part of the CBeebies block).

3) DoQ. (a Hungarian documentary channel, 2007-2019) During the 2012-2015 ident era, I watched lots of programs with my twin brother, including Guinness World Records - Totally Insane, Guinness World Records Smashed (yes, a "game" show made by Sky UK ran on this channel!), Fort Boyard (the French version), Ripley's Believe It or Not (Dean Cain hosted version), Fear Factor and Totalcar. There was one more series we wanted to watch, but it was rated 15 (all of the others were rated AP, Romanian rating system): it was Rude Tube, a top 20 list of the funniest Youtube videos.

4) VIVA. I watched this a lot back in July-August 2011 and in May 2014 (and only the music-related programs). I first saw it in around 2008, when the blue-yellow logo was still used. In 2017 it was replaced by Comedy Central Family, ending its Hungarian run of 20 years.

5-6) Zone Club and Zone Romantica. The idents which had the Zone "O" motif were really good, but I rarely watched those two channels: Zone Club because of a cooking series, and Zone Romantica because of a telenovela which had a number 7 in its title. Zone Club was replaced by Megamax (also defunct as of New Year's Day 2020), and Zone Romantica was replaced by Filmcafé (CBS Drama in everywhere else in Europe). I saw Zone Club for the last time in around late 2011, when it was only broadcast between 22:00-07:00 CET, timesharing with Megamax.

 

[BlooCNBoy02]

Continuation of my list, this time with channels I've never watched but still missable for me.

7) A+ and Animax (Central Europe). Unlike other Animaxes, this was broadcast after Minimax (20:00-02:00 CET). After RTL Klub had a tragic dispute against the Hungarian media commission, this became the only place for anime series in Hungary. Animax didn't keep A+'s format, as from 2009 it started airing AXN programming and the diversity started to lower. It finally died on 31 March 2014, the last program was Dragon Ball GT.

8) C8. This also timeshared with Minimax, and it was unique because it was a free DVB-T channel, showcasing programming from AMC-owned channels. There was one negative aspect about this channel: it showed the same schedule for a full week before switching to a new one. However in its last ten months (13 February to New Year's Eve 2017), it became better as it simulcasted the AMC-owned channels with a two-week channel change. It died with the change to 2018 and was replaced by the 24/7 Minimax on pay television and Spektrum Home on DVB-T.

9) Film+ 2. This was a sister channel of Film+, launched in 2008 and lasted for 9 years. Film+ 2 aired less-known and cultic movies and was aimed to the female audience and families (Film+ was aimed to a male audience). It closed on 3 July 2017 with the Street Fighter movie and was replaced by RTL Gold. At launch, RTL Gold was also a good channel (repeats of old game and talk shows made by RTL Klub), but by 2018 it became an ordinary entertainment channel.

10) ITV. This was the only Hungarian channel dedicated to video games and IT and also timeshared with Minimax. It didn't have any relations to the British television company of the same name, despite the fact that its logo is a childish drawing of the 1998 UK logo. Launched as the Hungarian version of Game One in 2000, became ITV a year later and closed down in 2003.

 

[themidnightlore]

Continuation of my list, this time with channels I've never watched but still missable for me.

7) A+ and Animax (Central Europe). Unlike other Animaxes, this was broadcast after Minimax (20:00-02:00 CET). After RTL Klub had a tragic dispute against the Hungarian media commission, this became the only place for anime series in Hungary. Animax didn't keep A+'s format, as from 2009 it started airing AXN programming and the diversity started to lower. It finally died on 31 March 2014, the last program was Dragon Ball GT.

8) C8. This also timeshared with Minimax, and it was unique because it was a free DVB-T channel, showcasing programming from AMC-owned channels. There was one negative aspect about this channel: it showed the same schedule for a full week before switching to a new one. However in its last ten months (13 February to New Year's Eve 2017), it became better as it simulcasted the AMC-owned channels with a two-week channel change. It died with the change to 2018 and was replaced by the 24/7 Minimax on pay television and Spektrum Home on DVB-T.

9) Film+ 2. This was a sister channel of Film+, launched in 2008 and lasted for 9 years. Film+ 2 aired less-known and cultic movies and was aimed to the female audience and families (Film+ was aimed to a male audience). It closed on 3 July 2017 with the Street Fighter movie and was replaced by RTL Gold. At launch, RTL Gold was also a good channel (repeats of old game and talk shows made by RTL Klub), but by 2018 it became an ordinary entertainment channel.

10) ITV. This was the only Hungarian channel dedicated to video games and IT and also timeshared with Minimax. It didn't have any relations to the British television company of the same name, despite the fact that its logo is a childish drawing of the 1998 UK logo. Launched as the Hungarian version of Game One in 2000, became ITV a year later and closed down in 2003.

From reading this, I get a feeling: timesharing with Minimax would end to make you close.
And that Sony didn't handle one single Animax like it should have been.

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

There's two more closed channels I also miss, it's ABC1 (Disney's only attempt at a DTT TV channel in the UK) and Viva UK (formerly TMF).

 

[BlooCNBoy02]

I don't know if it is allowed to post photos or videos here...

Speaking of ITV, here are the Hungarian and 1998 British logos for comparison why they look so similar.

 

[Francisque]

There's two more closed channels I also miss, it's ABC1 (Disney's only attempt at a DTT TV channel in the UK) and Viva UK (formerly TMF).

Yeah, although ABC1 was becoming TOO repetitive before closing down, consisting of nothing but 8 Simple Rules, Home improvement and something else as staples.

here's the final closedown (at 12pm)

 

[JMTV]

I still missed The Hub Network.

 

[5YearsOnEastCoast]

Ultra (it was kids channel in my country). It closed down a few years ago.

 

[themidnightlore]

I still missed The Hub Network.

The Hub would have lived longer if Discovery cared. This is my opinion.

Ultra (it was kids channel in my country). It closed down a few years ago.

Russia? Ex-Yugoslavian zone? Never heard of this one.

I don't know if it is allowed to post photos or videos here...

Speaking of ITV, here are the Hungarian and 1998 British logos for comparison why they look so similar.
View attachment 286480
View attachment 286482

They might have nothing to do with the British ITV, but surely they predicted that the British ITV would get a cursive logo later.

 

[5YearsOnEastCoast]

Russia? Ex-Yugoslavian zone? Never heard of this one.

Ex-Yugoslavian zone.

 

[themidnightlore]

Ex-Yugoslavian zone.

I see.
Talking of kids channels, while still around, I do really miss the first years of Boing and Rai Gulp. They were quite comfy and I loved watching the cartoons that aired back then.

 

[JMTV]

The Hub would have lived longer if Discovery cared. This is my opinion.

I agree!

 

[pacman000]

The Tube - An early digital sub channel network, focused on music videos.

Pax - They needed more original programming, & longer episode orders, but I enjoyed some of their stuff.

Light TV - Similar to Pax, but as a digital sub-channel.

Urban American Television - Focused on LPTV stations, mostly showed public domain stuff.

 

[themidnightlore]

Now I realized I forgot to name one channel in my initial list.
Game Network! This one was part of my early childhood, somehow, as I used to watch it on satellite when I was quite young. In the early 2000's, Hotbird was full of interesting FTA channels, especially Italian ones. There was GAY.tv, Planet(e) died FTA here in Italy, Game Network with the European feed, Dance TV (a music channel that aired dance music)...

 

[TMC1982]

I too miss The Hub Network. I thought that the Hub (and prior to this Fox Family) could've had the most potential to being an alternative to the "Big 3" (Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network).

When my family first got a satellite, there was this channel called Network One or N1. It aired a lot of B-grade movies, anime, beauty pageants, underground music videos, and reruns of Night Flight. The best way that I can describe it is what if you made a small "independent" network that was a cross between IFC, USA's Up All Night, Toonami, MTV's 120 Minutes.

 

[pacman000]

I too miss The Hub Network. I thought that the Hub (and prior to this Fox Family) could've had the most potential to being an alternative to the "Big 3" (Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network).

When my family first got a satellite, there was this channel called Network One or N1. It aired a lot of B-grade movies, anime, beauty pageants, underground music videos, and reruns of Night Flight. The best way that I can describe it is what if you made a small "independent" network that was a cross between IFC, USA's Up All Night, Toonami, MTV's 120 Minutes.

Heard of N1; it was also broadcast on some lots stations, over-the-air.

Network One - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[JMTV]

I too miss The Hub Network. I thought that the Hub (and prior to this Fox Family) could've had the most potential to being an alternative to the "Big 3" (Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network).

I know, I missed it so much, too. Such a huge shame that The Hub was never got to reach it full potential.

Thanks a lot, Discovery.....

 

[superkeegan9100]

Too easy... Qubo