The announcement was made last fall and earlier this month, a long-time regional cable network as shut it's doors January 6th.

Northwest Cable News, a conglomeration of news from  Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, Spokane and Boise (as well as others) went on the air 21 years ago in 1995. But on January 6th they gave their final farewell newscast. They often broke or were first on many big stories in the Pacific Northwest, but were also criticized for being a bit too West-side centric in their coverage, all but neglecting Southeastern WA and Oregon.

For the better part of the last two years, the network had been plagued by declining viewership, as digital and web offerings eroded their numbers. While the network did a solid job of providing a Fox or CNN type regional news channel for WA, OR and Idaho, viewers often learned they could get the same news on their own local stations.

The network also learned that perhaps over the years, the idea of a regional news channel did not result in viewers turning to it, some said they weren't that interested in what was happening in Seattle if they were in Spokane or Boise, and vice-versa.

Now their website contains a farewell page, where viewers can see their final sign-off. In this day and age this is newsworthy because rarely does a channel or network completely just go away on TV or Radio, or do 'dark' as they say in the industry. Usually they change hands or formats, but don't often just shut the doors.

Here is the final broadcast from NWCN, via YouTube. Working in the media, it's always sad to see fellow broadcasters lose gigs, regardless of where they work.

 

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