Satellite News Channel (SNC) was a joint venture of the American Broadcasting Company (
ABC) and
Westinghouse Broadcasting (Group W). Designed as a satellite-delivered
cable TV network, SNC used footage from
ABC News and seven Washington DC based crews, in addition to stories from other overseas networks to provide a rotating newscast every 20 minutes.
SNC's slogan, derived from Group W's experience in
all-news radio, was "Give us 18 minutes, we'll give you the world."
Satellite News Channel, based in the
New York City suburb of
Stamford, Connecticut was on the air from June 21, 1982, until October 27, 1983. During that time, it provided competition for Turner Broadcasting's
CNN. In fact, on January 1, 1982, CNN had started a second network,
CNN2, which had a similar format, as a preemptive strike against the ABC/Group W venture. SNC, however, had difficulty getting clearance from cable systems. It was eventually bought by CNN and shut down; on most local cable systems it was replaced by either CNN or
CNN Headline News (which had changed its name from CNN2 shortly after SNC's launch in 1982).
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