Sega Channel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sega Channel was a project developed by Sega for the 16-bit Sega Genesis console. Starting in 1994, Sega Channel service was provided to the public by Time Warner Cable and TCI, which later was acquired by the old AT&T during its cable acquisition spree that formed AT&T Broadband.
For a monthly subscription fee (usually $14.95 depending on where you were located), along with a $25 activation fee, the subscriber would get an adapter, which plugged into the Genesis cartridge slot, and was connected to their cable television connection. The service would provide them with unlimited access to 50 games, selectable through an on-screen menu, with new games appearing every month and later every 2 weeks. The games would be downloaded in about 1 minute and play just like the retail versions. These games were organized by genre, such as Action, Fighting, Adventure, and Family. Each month, there was a special theme with originally composed music, artwork and game categories.
Sega also ran several promotions through the service:
- Special "test drives" for up-and-coming titles were provided. In some, after a certain time limit (15 minutes), gameplay was terminated, and the player was returned to the menu. Other games had limited content; for example, Primal Rage had only two characters playable, and Sonic 3D Blast ended after completing the first stage.
- Special modifications of existing retail games were made for Sega Channel, the most popular of which was a special version of Earthworm Jim by Shiny Entertainment.
- Some games not released in the United States were exclusive to the service.
- Cheats and tips could be accessed on the service and appeared while the games were downloading.
- Throughout the service's life, contests were held, where players could win Arcade machines, projection TVs, BMX bikes, etc.
The service was also available in Canada, in some parts of the United Kingdom on certain cable services, in Chile on the defunct Metropolis cable company, and in Argentina on a national TCI branch, Cablevisión TCI.
To provide Sega Channel, a cable company would need to install new equipment into their headend, integrate service authorization into their sales center, and purchase the game adapters. Game adapters were manufactured by Scientific Atlanta and General Instruments, with a cost to the cable operators of approximately $100 per unit. Additionally, many cable operators had to clean their broadcast signal in the head-end and all the way to "the pole" to ensure that the signal could be received. Sega, a gaming company, thus played a major role in improving infrastructure for future digital cable services, as well as broadband Internet access and digital telephone services. At its peak, Sega Channel was available to one-third of the United States and had 250,000 subscribers.
Sega Channel ultimately failed due to the retirement of the Sega Genesis game platform and the difficult economics for the cable operators. The service ended in June of 1997. Unfortunately, as it ended, so did access to English translations of otherwise unreleased games, notable ones including Alien Soldier, Golden Axe III, Mega Man: The Wily Wars and Pulseman; some received European releases, while others were lost forever, leaving behind only the original Japanese versions.
[edit] See also
- Intellivision's PlayCable
- Super Famicom's Satellaview
[edit] External links
- Archive.org - Archive of the Sega Channel official homepage
- Business Wire - Sega Channel Cited by "Popular Science" as Among 1994's Outstanding Products and Technological Achievements
- Sega Channel: The First Real "Downloadable" Content - Article on the history of the service
