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.
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. 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 Group W Satellite Communications announced the formation of the Satellite News Channel on August 12, 1981, with a tentative launch set for early 1982. CNN founder Ted Turner subsequently announced plans to launch a spin-off service, CNN2 (later renamed CNN Headline News shortly after SNC's launch; it is now named HLN), which originally maintained a format similar to that being planned by the Satellite News Channel – albeit with newscasts running in 30-minute intervals – as a preemptive strike against the ABC/Group W venture. CNN2 made its launch on January 1, 1982 on participating cable systems across the county as well as through a sneak preview block on sister channel Superstation WTBS.
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. 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. Despite this model, SNC had difficulty obtaining clearance from cable systems. The network and its satellite transponder space was eventually purchased by CNN's corporate parent, the Turner Broadcasting System. 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.