In a move that caught many people off guard, WSS-TV, which billed itself as "Your Shopping Source" ceased broadcasting effective Tuesday, July 11th. The company had struggled since its inception financially, and the big lump sum investment of capital that they needed to acquire new cable homes and additional positioning on DirectTV never materialized. The company had been receiving invested capital as it went along, barely enough to keep the lights on, but in this type of operation, this is not going to get it done.
In short, the network did not make it for the same reason that most other new start up companies in the world do not: they were undercapitalized, a nice way of saying they simply ran out of money. The bottom line is that they needed an infusion of (just an educated guess here guys) about $15-$20million to square things away, and a like sum for the investment previously discussed.
What will be interesting to see in the coming months is who, if anyone, takes advantage of this available cable space. If you are one of those who received WSS-TV via cable, keep checking in from time-to-time to see if a new channel has moved into the spot vacated by WSS. In our area here in the western suburbs of Minneapolis, they are currently running infomercials. I believe I set a new tv remote control clicker speed record in passing them by when I come to channel 72.
Hey, it's not all bad! At least we don't have to see the crystal chandelier anymore.
