Corus Entertainment has discontinued operating EdgeTV, the digital television provider of rock and alternative music videos. Kerry Morgan, VP of communications at Corus, places the blame entirely on the lack of sufficient satellite carriage.

‘The channel is not carried in the West except by Bell ExpressVu because of the 5:1 linkage rule,’ she says, pointing to a regulation requiring a distributor carrying an affiliated service to also launch five non-affiliated services. As Corus is affiliated with both Shaw Entertainment and Star Choice, neither can carry EdgeTV.

Edge was launched during the fall of 2001, the year of the diginet explosion. Forty or so digital channels were launched at the time, with hopes of attracting hordes of subscribers to the new services. Edge is the first of that batch to fall.

Part of the problem may lie with audience ratings. According to the latest figures, Morgan says Edge drew approximately 300,000 viewers per week. While the low audience figure can be related to the obstacle of obtaining enough satellite carriage, digital channels in general continue to struggle with viewer ratings.

Earlier this year, Nielsen Media Research reported that those subscribing to digital services from September to December 2002 spent a mere 6% of their viewing time watching the channels.