I asked and received moderator permission to post this thread.
Some good friends of mine are trying to do something about the decline in good sci-fi on TV these days. They’re launching a brand new channel exclusively devoted to science fiction, called OWL, for “Other Worlds and Lands.”
They’re having an online chat about the startup process tonight at 8PM EDT (5PM PDT, 12 midnight UTC). You can use your own IRC client to connect to chat.otherworldsandlands.com 6667, or use the in-browser java client they provide on their site chat.otherworldsandlands.com. The chat is expected to last for a few hours, at least.
One hint for using the provided java client: It will auto-assign you a nickname of Guest1234 or something like that. Once connected, you can choose a new nickname in the field near the top of the window.
Funnily enough, the wrestling question is in the FAQ (“No.”) but the more obvious question – how do we see this channel, i.e., just where is this channel gonna be broadcast? – is not.
Yes, there could be more in their FAQ. From one of the founders: “Our current plans are to begin life distributed on the upcoming Sagavision platform.” There’s more about it in that thread I linked, but AIUI, it’s going to work like a PVR hooked to your TV, and the content will be downloaded to the box via the subscriber’s home internet connection.
I find the lack of details an issue. If you have contracts for existing shows, then you should be mentioning them. If you don’t, you don’t have anything but a pipe dream. As for the promises of new content, I find it hard to believe you have enough money behind you to produce all these as a startup.
This sounds a bit like the SFAN network which was supposed to be the first SF network in the early 90s (just as Sci-Fi was being developed). Lot of talk, but nothing ever came of it.
Call me cynical, but the details you have posted don’t bode well for your success.