QBID PR : Feb 09, 2004 (The Business Press - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via
COMTEX) -- A Palm Springs media company that specializes in programming for gays
and lesbians will launch a cable television network.
The Triangle Television Network, a wholly owned subsidiary of Triangle
Multi-Media Limited, will begin broadcasting within 90 days, Chief Executive
Officer Frank Olsen said Feb. 4.
TTN, as the network will be known, will be available to about 10,000 cable
television companies throughout the United States and Puerto Rico for $2 a month
for each subscriber, Olsen said.
Time Warner Cable television has agreed to make the signal available to any of
its local system operators that want to broadcast it, Olsen said.
The fledgling network must persuade other cable carriers, large and small, to
pick up TTN's signal.
"We're going to throw sand up in the air and hope the wind catches it," said
Olsen, who has spent 40 years working in radio and television. "It's a slow
business and it can take a while for things to catch on, but we think this can
work. The cable networks can send the signal to whoever wants it without
offending anyone.
"I'll be happy if we get one subscriber," Olsen laughed.
Triangle Television will employ six people to start, and has spent about $6
million developing the network.
Triangle Television could spend another $2 million before it begins broadcasting
its signal by satellite.
Triangle Network will broadcast taped gay athletic contests and fashion shows,
among other programs.
The network will broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but much of its
programming will be repeated several times, standard practice among most
specialized cable television networks.
Olsen declined to discuss advertising rates, but selling advertising on Triangle
Network could be difficult, he said.
"I worked for a black radio station during the 1960s, and a lot of companies
didn't want to buy [advertising] with us," he said. "This could be the same
thing. Advertisers don't want to pick up one gay person and lose two
Christians."
Triangle Multi-Media formerly owned and operated two radio stations in Seattle
that broadcast gay and lesbian programming.
After selling those stations three years ago, Triangle has concentrated on
developing its television venture.
The business was propped up by investors, but the going has been rough, Olsen
said. "We've made a lot of mistakes. We rented buildings that were too big and
we hired too many people.
"But we're going to get this done. I'm 100 percent sure we're going to get this
started."
Palm Springs, with a history of tolerance toward gays and lesbians, is a logical
place for a gay-oriented television network to operate, said Milton Jones,
publisher of Desert Publications Inc. and the Jones Agency, a public relations
firm.
Jones is leasing space to Triangle Broadcasting in his building at 303 No.
Indian Canyon Drive.
By Joseph Ascenzi
To see more of The Business Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.thebizpress.com
(c) 2004, The Business Press, San Bernardino, Calif. Distributed by Knight
Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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